
Class _jL&i^ 
Book 21 



liin... 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSITS 



TEACHING TO READ 



BY 

NELLIE E. TURNER 

ii 

FORMERLY INSTRUCTOR IN READING 

SLIPPERY ROCK STATE NORMAL SCHOOL 

PENNSYLVANIA 




AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 

NEW YORK CINCINNATI CHICAGO 



v^ 






Copyright, 191 5, by 
NELLIE E. TURNER. 

Copyright, 1915, in Great Britain. 



TEACHING TO READ. 
E. P. I 



MAR 1/1915. 

©CI,A39715 2 



PREFACE 

Regarding the Plan and Purpose of the Book. 

The excellent work that has been done in systema- 
tizing the reading work throughout the primary grades 
needs no comment. The lack of a definite method 
of procedure above the primary grades needs no re- 
mark. Teaching to Read enters the latter field. It 
aims to present the subject of reading in a manner 
more nearly resembhng the orderly and systematic 
procedure used in other branches. 

We believe that the problems of the reading class 
can be attacked in a much more definite way than 
has heretofore been attempted, and that, by means of 
a more systematic plan, they can be skillfully and un- 
derstandingly disposed of, one by one, to the satisfac- 
tion of both teachers and pupils. 

The problems of the reading class are the Problems 
of Expression and the Problems of Construction. One 
by one the selections present them, and one by one 
the Suggestive Studies aim to help the teacher dispose 
of them. 

The book has been prepared more particularly for 
teachers, and those preparing to teach. Its first aim 
is to help them to be better readers; its second, to 
help them to be better teachers of reading. 

Regarding the Material Used. 

The work of the reading class is primarily to teach 

iii 



iv PREFACE 

pupils how to read ; that is, how to glean thought and 
how to express it. The first aim of the reading class, 
then, should be the regular accumulation of systema- 
tized knowledge regarding reading. That the material 
used for the purpose should be of the very best grade 
it is unnecessary to state; and that a love of good 
literature will grow with an appreciation of good litera- 
ture does not require argument. 

In leaving the beaten path and introducing the large 
number of short extracts, the author believes that she 
is following the logical order of procedure. Such a 
method is the only one by which we are enabled to 
present one problem at a time, and to advance directly 
by successive steps from the easy to the difficult. 

Nothing is really lost by such a method of proce- 
dure, and a great deal is gained ; for short extracts 
have many pedagogical advantages over complete 
selections, and, when well taught, prove equally as 
interesting. They can be used in every way with 
greater definiteness. With them the teacher can place 
her finger upon the exact thing that she wishes to 
teach, and the pupil can see the exact thing that he 
is expected to learn ; the teacher can know by suc- 
cessive and progressive steps if she is teaching it, and 
the pupil can know if he is learning it, and also know 
why he knows it. The problem in hand is not con- 
fused, blurred, or swallowed up with shifting problems 
and surrounding material. The mind is not reaching 
forward so much to the next sentence, paragraph, or 
page, but is more content to dwell upon the one in 
hand and to glean from it all that it has to give. 

The attention given to short extracts does not mean 



PREFACE V 

that the value of continued thinking and complete 
selections has been underestimated. A special effort 
has been made to meet the needs along these lines. 

To the Teacher. 

The care in questioning may seem overdone, until 
it is put to a practical test ; then we are sure that its 
value will be shown. As for the argument that it will 
consume too much time and that there will not be 
enough left for reading, to that we reply : Then read 
less and read better. Read what you do read cor- 
rectly, — if it is only one sentence a day, — and have 
the reason for the correct or incorrect reading under- 
stood. If you follow this plan, you need have no fear 
of the final results. One definite result gained, or 
partly gained, day after day, will carry you toward 
the final goal with a sure and steady progress which 
the bare method of "hearing them read'' a set amount, 
with an occasional question, or criticism, or "try again," 
can never attain. 

If the pupils understand the sentence or paragraph, 
the questioning will pass rapidly, using but little time, 
and acting as a sort of mental gymnastic, stimulating 
and invigorating the minds. If they do not under- 
stand it, and the answers to questions come haltingly 
or are incorrect, then they are not ready to read. 
Little is gained by parrot-like pronunciation of words. 
Make haste slowly — and'thou shalt speed rapidly in 

the end. 

N. E. T 

TiDiouTE, Pa. 



CONTENTS 



I. Studies in the Relative Thought Value of 

Words ....... i 

II. Studies in Grouping . . . . -31 

III. Studies in Connectives ..... 53 

IV. Studies in the Relative Thought Values of 

Modified Words and Modifiers . . 83 
V. Studies in Series ...... 109 

VI. Studies in Contrast . . . . -137 

VII. Studies in Parenthetical Expressions, Ex- 
planatory Clauses, and the Like . . 173 
VIII. Studies in Introductory Forms . . . 207 
IX. Studies in Quotations . . . . .221 

X. Studies in Inverted Expressions, Conditional 

Clauses, and the Like .... 243 

XI. Studies in Interrogative and Exclamatory 

Expressions ...... 263 

XII. Studies in Quick Changes . . . -317 

XIII. Studies in Gradation of Ideas and Emotions 349 

XIV. Studies in Repeated Words and Refrains. . 365 
XV. Cultivation of the Imagination . . -393 

XVI. Studies in Interpreting the • Spirit of the 

Selection ....... 459 

vi 



CONTENTS 



Vll 



CHAPTER 

XVIL Studies in Pause 
XVIII. Studies in Continuous Thinking 



Articulation 

Index of Titled Selections 

Index of First Words . 



481 
495 

511 

515 
517 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

Acknowledgment and thanks are hereby extended to 
the following authors and publishers for permission to 
publish copyrighted matter used in this volume : William 
Hamilton Hayne, for the poem Edgar Allan Poe, written 
by his father, Paul Hamilton Hayne ; Hon. William J. Bryan ; 
Dr. Lyman Abbott, and the Outlook; Joaquin Miller, and 
Whitaker and Ray-Wiggin Company; Russell Doubleday, 
and Doubleday, Page and Company; Robert J. Burdette, and 
Henry Holt and Company; Hamlin Garland, and Harper 
and Brothers; Robert M. Cumnock, and A. C. McClurg and 
Company; Wilson Flagg, and Educational Publishing Com- 
pany ; Kate O'Neill, and Parker P. Simmons ; D. Appleton and 
Company, publishers of the poems of William Cullen Bryant; 
G. P. Putnam's Sons, publishers of the works of Washington 
Irving; Charles Scribner's Sons, publishers of the works of 
J. G. Holland ; and J. P. Lippincott Company, publishers 
of the works of T. B. Read. Sentences from Reed and Kel- 
logg's Higher Lessons in English are used by permission of 
Charles E. Merrill and Company. Sentences from Composi- 
tion and Rhetoric (Lockwood and Emerson), The Mother 
Tongue, and Lessons in English (Lockwood) are used by 
permission of Ginn and Company. The extract from " Les 
Miserables," adapted by Cora Marsland in '' Interpretive 
Readings," is used by permission of Longmans, Green and 
Company. The selections from Longfellow, Whittier, Lowell, 
Holmes, Emerson, Hawthorne, Aldrich, Agassiz, Lucy Lar- 
com, John G. Saxe, Bayard Taylor, J. T. Trowbridge, John 
Burroughs, and John Fiske are used by permission of, and 
special arrangement with, Houghton Mifflin Company, the 
authorized publishers of the works of these authors. 



TEACHING TO READ 



CHAPTER I 

STUDIES IN THE RELATIVE THOUGHT VALUE ^ 

OF WORDS 

The simplest problem of expression in reading is 
that of showing appreciation of the value of single 
words. 

The reading material in this chapter consists of 
selections in which the essential ideas are expressed 
by single words or short phrases. The plan can readily 
be grasped by a study of selection No. i, which, short 
as it is, will be found to contain five important ideas ; 
or of No. 2, in which five of the six words con- 
tribute definitely to the thought. Selections are in- 
cluded to illustrate the value oftentimes of the parts 
of compound words (No. 14), the importance that even 
a syllable of a word may take on (No. 16), the effect 
that thought arrangement may have upon words (No. 
3), and such other subjects as come logically under the 
title of the chapter. 

The object of such study is to develop power to 
appreciate the force of words, to promote the habit 
of close study, and to improve the oral reading of all 
sentences of this kind. 



2 TEACHING TO READ 

Pedagogical Introduction 

How shall we lead pupils to sense the relative thought 
value of printed words conveying the ideas of other 
minds ? 

In unconstrained conversation, when expressing 
their own thoughts, they find no difficulty in emphasiz- 
ing the right words, and they will instinctively employ 
the means most effective for the occasion, — whether 
it be increased energy and force, increased range of 
inflection," a pause before or after an emphatic word, 
or the lowering of the voice even to a whisper. It is 
as natural to emphasize as to speak. 

Why, then, do we have so much trouble with in- 
correct emphasis in the reading class ? The explana- 
tion is simple. When a pupil expresses his own 
thoughts he knows exactly the idea that he wishes to 
convey, and the emphasis on the various words is 
instinctively proportioned. When he attempts to ex- 
press the thought of another, while simultaneously 
gleaning it from the printed page, he lacks the familiar- 
ity with the subject matter that vivifies the expression 
of his own mind product. 

It is not to be expected that, in the reading class, 
the pupil will attain quite the same degree of familiarity 
with the printed text that he has with his own thoughts, 
— unless the selection . be memorized, — but it is ex- 
pected that he shall have such a clear understanding 
of the thought that he can express ''the truth," and 
"the whole truth"; and that, through much careful, 
out-loud practice at home, and the instruction and 
criticism of a capable teacher at school, he shall be able 



STUDIES IN RELATIVE THOUGHT VALUES OF WORDS 3 

to express that truth clearly, fluently, and naturally. 

The faults of emphasis need not be detailed. They 
are well known : the misplaced emphasis, the emphasis 
at random; the dull, monotonous tone; the nervous 
jerky manner ; the regular, singsong style. Some faults 
are more or less ** natural"; some have been acquired, 
through incorrect ideals, precocious forcing, poor in- 
struction, or imitation. A few are due to nervousness, 
an occasional one to a physical defect, and many to 
carelessness on the part of both teacher and pupil. 

Excepting the faults requiring medical or surgical 
attention, the remedy in every case is the same : lead 
the pupil to a clear comprehension of the meaning of 
what is to be read, and particularly to an appreciation 
of individual word values. 

It is not enough that pupils be able to "tell the 
story" at the beginning of the recitation; it is not 
enough that they be able to answer an occasional 
question here and there. In the technical study of 
reading, pupils need to be asked every reasonable 
question that the teacher can ask on the sentence or 
paragraph in hand. There is nothing Hke rapid ques- 
tioning to make pupils "sit up and take notice." If 
the particular pupil who has read the sentence does 
not need the question, there is always some one else 
who does ; and the certainty that questions are going 
to be asked, coupled with the uncertainty as to who' 
will get the next one, keeps a reading class wide-awake 
and alert. It keeps pupils reading for themselves, 
thinking and reasoning for themselves, and listening 
critically to effects. How different from a class where 
each pupil passively awaits his turn ! 



4 TEACHING TO READ 

No attempt has been made to draw attention to 
the thought value of words through t3^pographical 
means. Such methods are, at best, too hmited to be 
of much service, and they frequently do more harm 
than good, as the following quoted illustration will 

show : 

In life's rosy morning, 
In manhood'' s firm pride. 
Let this be the motto 
Your footsteps to guide ; — 
In storm and in sunshine, 
Whatever assail. 
We'll ONWARD and conquer. 
And NEVER say fail ! 

Test the foregoing with an average pupil, and mark 
the jingle effect. 

Do you agree that lifers and manhood's are the lead- 
ing ideas in lines i and 2 ? 

During what two periods does it say we should let 
this he our motto? Ans. During early life and later 
Hfe. 

Early life is represented how .^ Ans. As lifers rosy 
morning. Notice how the words vie with each other 
in contributing to the idea. Is life's still the leading 
idea ? Judge for yourself. Later life is represented 
how ? Ans. As manhood' s firm pride. Is not the same 
almost as true in this case ? 

Compare rosy and firm. Is not each full of thought 
value for its individual place, and does not each make 
an important contribution to the idea with which it is 
linked ? 

It is impossible to indicate typographically with 



STUDIES IN RELATIVE THOUGHT VALUES OF WORDS 5 

any degree of satisfaction the relative importance of 
words. To italicize this (line 3) is to give it a promi- 
nence out of true proportion with motto. Compare the 
strength of storm and sunshine with the idea expressed 
by whatever assail. 

Has the last line a climactic word or a climactic 
clause ? 

Test this also : ^ 

Make the best of everything ; 
Think the best of everybody ; 
Hope the best for yourself, 
Do as I have done, — persevere. 

Is the idea conveyed in make so much more im- 
portant than the ideas conveyed in best and everything.? 

What is the inspirational idea in the optimistic 
advice of the first three lines ? Is it not in best? — 
Best of everything, best of everybody, best for yourself? 
True make, and think, and hope (representing the 
activities through which it is to be carried out) are 
important ; but are they uniformly so much more 
important .^ Best does not retain the same relative 
degree of importance throughout, for it (being the old 
and familiar idea) must vie with the newness of the 
changing objects, — everybody and yourself. 

To indicate the emphasis for pupils is to do their 
thinking for them. He who would attempt to indicate 
the emphasis must first reason it out for himself. 
Let the pupils travel the path he would travel. Guide 
them with questions, instruction, or advice, but see 
to it that each travels the "road to learning" for 
himself. 



6 TEACHING TO READ 

SELECTIONS AND SUGGESTIVE STUDIES 

Care has been taken to provide as exercises selections 
worthy of independent consideration. Attention is called to 
the cases where it is desirable to consider the context, 

I. In the beginning God created»the heaven and the 
earth. Genesis i: i. 

I. This is the first verse of the Old Testament : All 
the ideas are new. 

Who created the heaven and the earth? 

When did God create the heaven and the earth? 

How did God bring the heaven and the earth into 
existence ? 

What did God create? Explain the difference in 
meaning of the two words. 

How many ideas are presented in the sentence ? 
Ans. Four, — When ? Who ? How ? What } — with 
the fourth, in turn, made up of two ideas. 

These questions make plain the thought material 
contained in the sentence. Asking them once will 
not bring about a correct reading by every pupil in 
an average class. At first, commonly as many as 
five out of six will fail in noting the value of one or 
more of the ideas, and in each case the pupil will need 
a repetition, in some form or other, of the particular 
question that will arouse him to a fuller appreciation 
of the idea that he undervalued as he read. 

Following the questions suggested above, a teacher 
may introduce the reading somewhat as follows : 

*'Now we may be sure that a sentence is not read 
correctly unless all the ideas are brought out. How 
many of you think that you can read that sentence, 



STUDIES IN RELATIVE THOUGHT VALUES OF WORDS 7 

2. Think deliberately and then act promptly. 

3. The sword is mighty, but the pen is mightier. 

making every idea it contains stand out so clearly 
that we shall have to notice each one ? John may 
try. The rest of you listen and see if he does it." 

Thus, at the beginning, a standard of criticism will 
be set for both teacher and pupils, — a standard by 
which the}^ may pass judgment upon both their own 
reading and the reading of others, and, understand- 
ing an error, see the path that leads to its correction. 

It must be remembered that the questions in these Studies 
are suggestive questions. The first pupil might read : 

" In the beginning God created the heaven and the earths 

Attention must then be called to created and in the beginning, 
care being taken that the value placed on God and the heaven 
and the earth be not forgotten. 

2. A sentence that contains words whose prominence 
is augmented by positions of balance or contrast. 

Think act; deliberately promptly. — When .? 

Five of the six words are important. 

3. Mighty and mightier are much more likely to be 
appreciated than are sword and pen. 

What are we reading about in the first half of the 
sentence } What is said about it .^ Read the first half. 

What are we reading about in the second half ? 
What is said about it ? Read the second half. 

Read the sentence complete. 

The pen is mightier than the sword. 
Richelieu. Act II. Scene II — Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton. 



8 TEACHING TO READ 

4. The hero of the story was a Scotch lad named 
James Hogan. His home was on the seashore. His 
father was a fisherman and a mender of nets. His 
mother was an invahd. James was the only son. 

5. There are three kinds of people in the world, 
the wills, the won'ts, and the can'ts. The first ac- 
complish everything ; the second oppose everything ; 
the third fail in everything. 

4. It is important to be awake to a change or varia- 
tion in subject. 

About whom are we reading in sentence I ? What 
is said about him ? In sentence 2 ? Etc. 

5. How many sentences in the paragraph ? 
Sentence i. This is a very common form of sentence : 

a statement followed by an explanation. Read the 
statement. 

What is the leading idea under discussion .? . (Notice 
that the question says idea, not ideas.) Ans. People. 

What are we discussing with regard to people? 
Ans. The ^mtfj of people. 

How many kinds of people does it say there are ? 

Where are there three kinds of people ? 

Read the statement giving us all the ideas. 

Who are the three kinds of people? 

Read the first sentence complete, and do not forget, 
while reading the statement, that the explanation is to 
follow; otherwise you may read the statement in such 
a way that we may be deceived into thinking it is the 
complete sentence. 

Sentence 2. How many divisions are indicated by 
the punctuation .? Note the value of the semicolon. 



STUDIES IN RELATIVE THOUGHT VALUES OF WORDS 9 

6. A little neglect may breed great mischief. For 
want of a nail the shoe was lost ; for want of a shoe 
the horse was lost ; and for want of a horse the rider 
was lost ; being overtaken and slain by the enemy, 
all for want of care about a horseshoe nail. 

Poor Richard's Almanac — Benjamin Franklin. 



Of what use is this sentence in the paragraph ? 
Ans. It gives us a comparative description of the 
three kinds of people. 

The comparison is indirect, and may not be noticed 
until the balanced arrangement of the sentence is 
appreciated. Which words in the second division and 
in the third division balance the first? Ans. The 
second, and the third. Which balance accomplish? 
Ans. Oppose, and fail. Which balance everything? 
Ans. Everything, everything. Then we have : 



three kinds 



wills 


first 


won'ts 


second 


; can ts 


third 



accomplish 

oppose 

fail 



everything 
everything 
everything 



Read the first division of the second sentence, so 
that we shall notice every idea. 

Read the second division in the same way. Decide 
upon the value of the repeated word. 

Treat the third division in the same way. 

Read the second sentence complete; the paragraph. 

6. Sentence i. What quality may breed mischief? 
Ans. Neglect. How much mischief? Ans. Great. How 
much neglect does it take to breed great mischief? 
What does breed mean .^ Ans. Cause ; produce. 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ 2 



lO TEACHING TO READ 

Does a little neglect always breed great mischief? 
What does Poor Richard say about it ? Ans. He 
says it may breed it. Then how many of the words 
in the sentence have a special meaning ? Ans. Six, 
— or every word except one. 

Read the sentence so that we shallbe sure to notice 
the value of each important word. 

The teacher should not forget to keep the class 
constantly to the front as judge and critic. Create 
a spirit of good fellowship. Let one after another 
present his best effort. John reads ; Mary sees a weak 
spot. If she is right, she must show why it is weak or 
incorrect, and if John does not see it, he must be 
questioned until he does see it and proves it by his 
reading. If Mary is incorrect, she must be led to see 
it by the same process. 

Sentence 2. What relation does sentence 2 bear to 
sentence i ? Ans. It is an illustration of the truth 
of the statement. 

How many divisions are indicated by the semicolons .f* 

Read the first division. The second. The third. 
How are these divisions alike } Ans. They are all for 
want of something, and all say that something was lost. 

How does the second division differ from the first } 
Ans. Shoe has taken the place of nail, and it is a horse 
lost instead of a shoe. 

How does the third division differ from the second '^. 

Read the three divisions, making the changes plain. 

Read the fourth division. Keep the meanings of 
overtaken (come up with) and slain (killed) distinct. 

Read the sentence complete. 

What is the little neglect in the last division .? 

Read the paragraph complete. 



STUDIES IN RELATIVE THOUGHT VALUES OF WORDS ii 

7. He who is ignorant of happiness may possess 
wealth, but he cannot truly enjoy it. 

8. Many men seem great, only because their 
associates are small. 

9. God, not man, is the Judge of us all when life 

shall cease. The Grandmother — Alfred Tennyson. 



7. Do not fail to develop the full force of ignorant 
but, at the same time, have a care that it does not 
obscure happiness. Ignorant bears a very important 
relation to happiness, but happiness continues to be 
one of the foundation words for the whole argument. 

Note the force of possess. Complete ignorance of 
happiness is not a bar to the possession of wealth, but 
it is to the enjoyment of it. 

Do not overlook the force of truly. 

8. What is the author writing about in this sentence I 
Ans. The seeming greatness of many men. 

The importance of the idea conveyed by seem does 
not blot out the fact that great has not been mentioned 
before, — that it is a " new idea." 

Preserve the balance between men and associates; 
great and small. 

To sift out and express clearly what the author is 
writing about in a particular sentence is a valuable 
exercise in the study of reading, and frequently all 
that is necessary for correct interpretation. 

What were we reading about in No. 3 t In No. 5 .? 

9. With what thought does this sentence deal .? Ans. 
The thought, who is the Judge of us all when life shall 
cease. 



12 TEACHING TO READ 

10. Who overcomes by force, hath overcome but 

half his foe. Paradise Lost. Book I — John Milton. 

11. He that would govern others must first be master 
of himself. 

12. He jests at scars that never felt a wound. 

Romeo and Juliet. Act II. Scene II — William Shakespeare. 

13. A vain man's motto is, "Win gold and wear 
it ; " a generous man's, " Win gold and share it ; " 
a miser's, " Win gold and spare it ; " a profligate's, 

The thought is expressed in what contrasting way ? 

God is the Judge of how many ? When ? 

10. With what thought does this sentence deal ? 
Ans. The relative result of overcoming by force. 

Explain the meaning of the sentence. 

11. govern - - - others 

first 
be master - - - of himself 

Govern whom .? Be master of whom ? 
Do what to others? Be what of himself? 

12. Who jests at scars? Ans. He. He. — Who? 
Ans. That never felt a wound. Meaning of y^j-^j-.^ 

To develop the thought value of felt: What kind of 
wound leaves a scar ? What feelings are caused by 
deep wounds .? Are those jesting matters .? What is 
the surest way of learning that they are not jesting 
matters ? Ans. By experiencing them or feeling them. 

The thought value of scars is very often overlooked. 

13. A study in the relative thought value of new 
words as compared with words already used. 



STUDIES IN RELATIVE THOUGHT VALUES OF WORDS 13 

" Win gold and spend it ; " a broker's, " Win gold and 
lend it ; " a gambler's or a fool's, " Win gold and lose 
it ; " but a wise man's, " Win gold and use it." 

14. The French Emperor's well-known and often- 
tried powers of endurance were astonishing. 

15. There are four different species of swallows that 
visit us, the swift, the chimney swallow, the house 
martin, and the sand martin. 



An idea already in the mind of a hearer does not 
need to be brought forward with the impressiveness 
that its first presentation required. If, however, it 
has taken on any new or added significance, the atten- 
tion of the listeners must be directed to that. 

14. A sentence that shows the thought value of the 
parts of a compound word. 

How do you know that the Emperor's powers of 
endurance were recognized .? (Answer all such ques- 
tions in the words of the text.) Ans. It says they were 
known. How do you know that they were recognized 
by many ? Ans. It says that they were ^^//-known. 

How do you know that they had been tested .^ Ans. 
It speaks of them as tried. How do you know that they 
had been tested many times \ Ans. It describes them 
as often-tritd. Read. 

15. Sometimes the broadening of an idea is traced 
forwards, and sometimes backwards. 

swallows 

species of swallows 

different species of swallows 

four different species of swallows 

There are four different species of swallows that visit us. 



14 



TEACHING TO READ 



i6. The conduct of Antoninus was characterized 
by justice and humanity; that of Nero, by injustice 
and inhumanity. The conduct of the former is deserv- 
ing of approbation, while that of the latter merits the 
severest reprobation. 

17. The text, a few short words of might, — 

" The Lord of Hosts shall arm the right ! " 

The Wagoner of the Alleghenies — Thomas Buchanan Read. 

Often attention can be effectively called to under- 
rated words by contrasting questions. For instance, 
four is underrated. The teacher says, " Six ? " The 
pupil immediately replies, " Four," — and sees that 
it is important that he should make that plain. Dif- 
ferent is underestimated. She queries, " Similar? " — 
and gains the result she desires. 

What two ideas are present in the names of the last 
three birds ? Arts. The name of the family, and the 
name that distinguishes one species from another. Are 
both ideas equally important in the first case ? In the 
second case .^ 

Read the statement as though no explanation were 
to follow. 

Read it as though an explanation were to follow, 
but do not give the explanation. 

Read the statement and the explanation complete. 

16. The balancing of the thought may lie in different 
forms of the same word, and show itself in change of 
accent. 

17. Individual words sometimes gain added power 
from the strength of the entire expression. 



STUDIES IN RELATIVE THOUGHT VALUES OF WORDS 15 

18. 'If youth are taught how to think, they will soon 
learn what to think. 

19. A certain amount of opposition is a great help 
to a man. Kites rise against and not with the wind. 

20. Hope springs eternal in the human breast : 
Man never Is, but always To be blest. 

Essay on Man. Epistle I — Alexander Pope. 

21. Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself 

Are much condemn'd to have an itching palm, 
To sell and mart your offices for gold 
To undeservers. 

Julius Ccssar. Act IV. Scene III — William Shakespeare. 

22. Cassius. When Caesar liv'd he durst not thus 
have mov'd me. 



18. The balance between how and what will be readily 
noticed. Many pupils will think their duty done if 
that alone be brought out. How to do what ? 

It is also necessary that the hearers notice about 
whom they are reading {youth), and that they be im- 
pressed also with the ideas conveyed by taught and 
learn. The choice of each word for its place was not 
accidental, and the words are not interchangeable. 

19, 20. There is no part of speech that cannot carry 
weighty thought value. 

21. The thought value of appositional forms. 

You yourself — as well as Lucius Pella, whom Brutus, 
the speaker, had " condemn'd and noted " for taking 
bribes. 

An itching palm. — An excessive love of money. 



l6 TEACHING TO READ 

Brutus. Peace, peace ! you durst not so * have 
tempted him. 

Cassius, I diirst not ? 

Brutus. No. 

Cassius. What ? durst not tempt him ? 

Brutus. For your hfe you durst not. 

Julius Ccssar. Act IF. Scene III — William Shakespeare. 

23. Strike — till the last armed foe expires; 
Strike — for your altars and your fires ; 
Strike — for the green graves of your sires ; 
God — and your native land ! 

Marco Bozzaris — Fitz-Greene Halleck. 



22. Emotional value. 

Brutus and Cassius, formerly friends and conspirators 
against Julius Caesar, are now quarreling with each other. 

23. The words Strike are frequently printed in 
italics, — a method that gives them undue relative 
prominence. Bozzaris's motive is to stimulate his 
men. The greatest stimulation lies, not in telling 
them over and over to strike, but in presenting added 
incentives for striking. When first uttered, the word 
presents a new idea, and the first incentive is expressed 
in four or five thought-filled words. The second 
Strike presents an old idea, retaining, however, a degree 
of prominence because of the emotional conditions under 
which it was uttered, but the stronger incentive lies 
in the new ideas presented in altars and fires. The 
third Strike presents a still older idea, but the emotion 
has been growing, — and the incentives are also growing 
in number and in strength. 



STUDIES IN RELATIVE THOUGHT VALUES OF WORDS 17 

24. A cheerful temper, joined with innocence, will 
make beauty attractive, knowledge delightful, and wit 
good-natured. It will lighten sickness, poverty, and 
affliction, convert ignorance into an amiable simplicity, 
and render deformity itself agreeable. 

The Tatler — Joseph Addison. 

Note that the poetic arrangement of the words Strike 
makes them suggestive of the action. 

Are the incentives arranged climactically, or to suit 
the poet's convenience \ 

Marco Bozzaris was a Greek patriot, born in Suli in 1788. 
The poem, which describes an assault upon the Turkish 
camp during a war between the Greeks and the Turks, is 
regarded as one of the very finest heroic odes in the English 
language. 

24. What does the paragraph discuss \ Ans. The 
effect of a cheerful temfer, joined with innocence y upon 
beauty y knbwledge, wit, sickness, poverty, affliction, igno- 
rance, and deformity. 

Explain how beauty would be unattractive if the 
cheerful temper, joined with innocence, were missing; 
how knowledge might not be delightful; and how wit 
might be iW-natured. 

How does it lighten sickness? Poverty? Affliction? 

What is an amiable simplicity? How does a cheerful 
temper convert ignorance into an amiable simplicity? 

How does it render deformity agreeable? Why does 
the author call particular attention to deformity by 
adding itself? 

Persist in requiring that explanations be definitely 
and clearly stated. Give time to think. 



1 8 TEACHING TO READ 

25. The Night is mother of the Day, 
The Winter of the Spring, 

And ever upon old Decay 
The greenest mosses ding. 
Behind the cloud the starHght lurks. 
Through showers the sunbeams fall ; 
For God, who loveth all his works. 
Has left his Hope with all ! 

A Dream of Summer — John Greenleaf Whittier. 

26. Still, through our paltry stir and strife. 

Glows down the wished Ideal, 
And Longing moulds in clay what Life 

Carves in the marble Real ; 
To let the new life in, we know, 

Desire must ope the portal ; — 
Perhaps the longing to be so 

Helps make the soul immortal. 

Longing — James Russell Lowell. 

25. What is the underlying sentiment .? 
How many illustrations are used .^ 

How is the Night mother of the Day? How is the 
Winter mother of the Spring? Are these only poetical 
fancies or can you see a reason for each statement .? 

The " Dream " was called forth by a warm winter noon, 
when all nature seemed to " prophesy of summer days." 

26. Meaning oi paltry stir? Wished Ideal? 
Notice that Longing moulds and Life carves; that 

one works in clay, the other in marhle. Longing gives 
us our " model " ; Life reproduces it. 

What is the new life? In — where (line 5) .^ What 
portal? 

Memorize. 



STUDIES IN RELATIVE THOUGHT VALUES OF WORDS 19 

27. Pygmies are pygmies still, though perched on 

Alps ; 
And pyramids are pyramids in vales. 
Each man makes his own stature, builds himself. 
Virtue alone outbuilds the Pyramids ; 
Her monuments shall last when Egypt's fall. 

Night Thoughts — Edward Young. 

28. ^ I am charged with pride and ambition. ^ The 
charge is true, and I glory in its truth. ^ Who ever 
achieved anything great in letters, arts, or arms, who 
was not ambitious .f* ^ Caesar was not more ambitious 
than Cicero. ^ It was but in another way. ^ Let the 
ambition be a noble one, and who shall blame it .^ 

27. Explain the meaning of line i ; line 2. 
To what stature does this refer .? 

How does a man build himself? 

Virtue, integrity of character; uprightness of conduct. 

28. Zenobia, one of the most famous heroines of antiquity, 
daughter of an Arab chief, Queen of Palmyra and the East 
in the third century, is supposed to be replying to those who 
have tried to curb her desire for a further extension of her 
dominion. 

Zenobia was famed for her beauty and for the devoted 
loyalty of her subjects. It is said that in intellect she was 
unsurpassed by any of the philosophers of the East. 

Observe how briefly, but thoroughly, sentence i 
introduces us to the situation. Lead pupils to see, by 
means of reasoning and imagination, into and through 
and all around a word or sentence. What does charged 
tell us ? Try to realize the emotional difference be- 
tween pride and ambition. 



20 TEACHING TO READ 

^ I confess I did once aspire to be queen, not only of 
Palmyra, but of the East. ^ That I am. ^ I now 
aspire to remain so. ^° Is it not an honorable ambition .? 
^^ Does it not become a descendant of the Ptolemies 
and of Cleopatra .f^ 

^ I am applauded by you all for what I have already 
done. ^ You would not it should have been less. 
^ But why pause here ^ ^ Is so much ambition praise- 
worthy, and more crirhinal ? ^ Is it fixed in nature 
that the limits of this empire should be Egypt on the 
one hand, the Hellespont and the Euxine on the other ^ 
^ Were not Suez and Armenia more natural limits ^ 
^ Or hath Empire no natural limit, but is broad as 
the genius that can devise, and the power that can 
win .? 

^ Rome has the West. ^ Let Palmyra possess the 
East. ^ Not that nature proscribes this and no more. 
* The gods prospering, and I swear not that the Medi- 
terranean shall hem me in upon the West, or Persiaonthe 
East. ^ Longinus is right, — I would that the world 
were mine. ^ I feel within the will and the power to 
bless it, were it so. 

Zenohia — William Ware. 



What is the first thought in sentence 2 } The second 
thought ? Which is the stronger .? 

Which word shows how Zenobia feels about the 
charge } 

Take time to develop the argumentative weight of 
almost every word in sentence 3 : Who, achieved, great, 
in letters, arts, or arms, who was not, ambitious^ and, 
particularly, ever answering the question when. 

Frequently the value of a word will be best appre- 
ciated if the sentence be read without it. {Example, — 
great.) 



STUDIES IN RELATIVE THOUGHT VALUES OF WORDS 21 

Change the sentence to a declamatory one. Note 
that it loses much of its forcefulness and directness. 

Trace the logical order of the speech : 

Sentence i states the charge; 2 admits it, and more 
than admits it ; 3 takes up the argument in the form 
of a question; 4 deals with illustration; 5 explains 
the illustration; 6 draws a conclusion in the form of 
another direct challenging question; 7 is a confession 
of past ambition (approved of by her hearers) ; 8, its 
accompHshment ; 9, present ambition; 10, defensive 
query; 11, patriotic allusion to proud, ambitious, and 
powerful ancestors. 

Then observe how tactfully and forcefully, in para- 
graph 2, the author makes Zenobia lead from the 
things that her hearers have approved and do ap- 
prove, to things she wants, and of which they do not 

approve. 

Does CcBsar represent ambition in letterSy arts, or 

arms ? Cicero ? 

Be alert for such compounding of ideas as another- 
way, noble-one, did-once, that-I-am, now-aspire, honor- 
able-ambition, you-all, already-done, natural-limits, no- 
natural-limit. Develop the value of the separate words 
by suitable questions. 

Note the growth of the idea expressed in East over 

that in Palmyra. 

Become, to accord with in character. 

1[2. Sentence 2. The value of You will be better 
appreciated if it is preceded experimentally by even. 
Read expressing the even, and then read only thinking 
it. Note the value of all (sentence i). 



22 TEACHING TO READ 

Sentence 4. Trace the balanced parts. 
Be alert for more-criminal. More does not tell how 
criminal; it modifies ambition understood. 

so much - - - more 
praiseworthy - - - criminal 

What kind of limits may be termed natural limits? 

1(3. Sentence 3. She will not even limit herself to 
half. Trace the growth of her aspirations from sen- 
tence 7, l[i, to sentence 5, ^[3. Try to realize the 
ambition that could cross the Mediterranean and enter 
the rich and powerful Persia, — and then contemplate 
the conquest of the world. 

Caesar, the great Roman general, statesman, and historian. 

Cicero, the great orator, statesman, and philoso|)her of 
ancient Rome. 

Palmyra, " the city of the palms," now a mere hamlet 
inhabited by a few Arabs and called Tedmor. In the Bible 
it is called Tadmor (2 Chronicles 8:4). It is 150 miles north- 
east of Damascus. The Empire finally included Egypt, 
Syria, Mesopotamia, and Asia Minor as far as Ancyra. 

Of the East. — Zenobia herself assumed the title, " Queen 
of the East." 

Ptolemies, a line of Egyptian kings. 

Cleopatra, a famous Egyptian queen. 

Hellespont, the strait between the iEgean Sea and the 
Sea of Marmora, — now called the Dardanelles. 

Euxine, now called the Black Sea. 

The full ambition of Zenobia was never realized. Before 
attaining it, she was overpowered and made captive by the 
Roman Emperor, Aurelian, who took her to Rome to adorn 
his triumphal entry into the capital. Later he presented 
her with a magnificent villa where she lived quietly until 
her death. 



STUDIES IN RELATIVE THOUGHT VALUES OF WORDS 23 

29. WASHINGTON 

1 In his person Washington was six feet high, and 
rather slender. ^ His hmbs were long ; his hands were 
uncommonly large, his chest broad and full, his head 
was exactly round, and the hair brown in manhood, 
but gray at fifty; his forehead rather low and retreat- 
ing, the nose large and massy, the mouth wide and firm, 
the chin square and heavy, the cheeks full and ruddy 
in early hfe. ^ His eyes were blue and handsome, but 
not quick or nervous. ^ He was one of the best riders 
in the United States, but, hke some other good riders, 
awkward and shambhng in his walk. ^ He was stately m 
his bearing, reserved, distant, and apparently haughty. 

Shy among women, he was not a great talker in any 
company, but a careful observer and hstener. He 
seldom smiled. He did not laugh with his face, but 
in his body, and while calm above, below the diaphragm 
his laughter was copious and earnest. Like many 
grave persons, he was fond of jokes, and loved humorous 
stories. He had negro story-tellers to regale him with 
fun and anecdotes at Mount Vernon. He was not 
critical about his food, but fond of tea. He hated 
drunkenness, gaming, and tobacco. He had a hearty 
love of farming, and of private hfe. 

There was nothing of the politician in him, -^ no 
particle of cunning. He was one of the most industrious 
of men. Not an elegant or accurate writer, he yet took 
great pains with style, and after the Revolution care- 
fully corrected the letters he had written in the time 
of the French War, more than thirty years before. 

He was no orator, hke Jefferson, Franklin, Madison, 
and others, who had great influence in American affairs. 
He never made a speech. The public papers were 
drafted for him, and he read them when the occasion 

came. : 

It has been said Washington was not a great soldier; 
but certainly he created . an army out of the roughest 



24 TEACHING TO READ 

materials, outgeneraled all that Britain could send 
against him, and in the midst of poverty and distress 
organized victory. He was not brilliant and rapid. 
He was slow, defensive, victorious. 

^ Some men command the world, or hold its admiration 
by their ideas or by their intellect. ^Washington had 
neither original ideas nor a deeply cultured mind. 
^ He commands by his integrity, by his justice. He 
loved power by instinct, and strong government by 
reflective choice. Twice he was made Dictator, with 
absolute power, and never abused the awful and despotic 
trust. The monarchic soldiers and civilians would 
make him king. He trampled on their offer, and went 
back to his fields of corn and tobacco at Mount Vernon. 

Cromwell is the greatest Anglo-Saxon who was ever 
a ruler on a large scale. In intellect he was immensely 
superior to Washington ; in integrity, immeasurably 
below him. For one thousand years, no king in 
Christendom has shown such greatness, or gives us so 
high a type of manly virtue. He never dissembled. 
He sought nothing for himself. In him there was no 
unsound spot, nothing little or mean in his character. 
The whole was clean and presentable. We think 
better of mankind because he lived. His glory already 
covers the continent. He is revered as the Father of 
his Country. The people are his memorial. 

Theodore Parker. (Abridged.) 

29. 1[i. Sentence, i. The author is describing 
Washington's person, and takes up his height, and then 
his build. 

Sentence 2 is full of changes in subject. 

Do not miss the new topic in riders and in walk {\i, 
sentence 4) ; or, for instance, in talker, ^[2, sentence i ; 
or politician, ^[3, sentence i, and industrious, sentence 2. 

^6. Paraphrase sentence 2. Sentence 3. 



STUDIES IN RELATIVE THOUGHT VALUES OF WORDS 25 

30. THE ADVANTAGES OF TRUTH 
From The Spectator. No. 352. 

1 Truth and reality have all the advantages of ap- 
pearance, and many more. ^ If the show of anything 
be good for anything, I am sure sincerity is better ; 
for why does any man dissemble, or seem to be that 

i which he is not, but because he thinks it is good to have 
such a quality as he pretends to ? for to counterfeit 
and dissemble is to put on the appearance of some real 
excellency. ^ Now, the best way in the world for a man 
to seem to be anything, is really to be what he would 

o seem to be. ^ Besides, it is many times as troublesome 
to make good the pretence of a good quahty, as to have 
it ; and if a man have it not, it is ten to one but he is 
discovered to want it, and then all his pains and labor 
to seem to have it is lost. 

lit is hard to personate and act a part long; for 



15 



Explain absolute power; despotic trust; monarchic 
soldiers and civilians; trampled on their offer. 
Why an awful trust .? Etc. 

30. Illustration of efforts to strengthen the idea by 
the use of synonymous expressions. 

Counterfeit and dissemble; to personate and to act a 
part; dissimulation and deceit; plainer and easier; 
safer and more secure way; trouble and difficulty; en- 
tanglement and perplexity ; danger and hazard; shortest 
and nearest; the shortest and nearest way to our end, 
carrying us thither in a straight line; hold out and last. 

^i. Sentence I. }lov7 m2iVVY advantages? 

What balances truth and reality? All? 

Sentence 2. Which idea balances show? Ans. 
Sincerity. Good for anything? Ans. Better. 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ 3 



26 TEACHING TO READ 

where truth is not at the bottom, nature will always 
be endeavoring to return, and will peep out and betray 
herself one time or other. ^Therefore if any man think 
it convenient to seem good, let him be so indeed, and 

20 then his goodness will appear to everybody's satis- 
faction ; so that, upon all accounts, sincerity is true 
wisdom. ^ Particularly as to the affairs of this world, 
integrity has many advantages over all the fine and 
artificial ways of dissimulation and deceit ; it is much 

25 the plainer and easier, much the safer and more secure 

way of dealing in the world ; it has less of trouble and 

difficulty, of entanglement and perplexity, of danger 

and hazard in it ; it is the shortest and nearest way 

to our end, carrying us thither in a straight line, and 

30 will hold out and last longest. 

Sir Richard Steele. 

For why. — Because of the reason that is to follow. 
Dissemble f or seem to he that which he is not. — The 
" show " of something (line 2). 

But because. — Unless ; for the cause that is explained 
in the next proposition, which is, he thinks it is good to 
have such a quality as he pretends to (have). 

For (line 6). — Because. 

Appearance (line 7). — See sentence i. 

Sentence 3. Seem to be. — See seem to he, line 4. 
Is really TO BE what he would seem to be. 

Sentence 4. What new quality is brought into the 
argument ? Ans. See troublesome. 

What balances to make good the pretence? Ans. To 
have it. Pretence, — " appearance '' (line i) ; " show" 
(line 2) ; etc. 

II2. Sentence 2. Convenient, becoming; proper. 

Which is the argumentative word ? 

Sentence 3. What is the author writing about in 



STUDIES IN RELATIVE THOUGHT VALUES OF WORDS 27 

31. COMPLAINT AND REPROOF 

" How seldom, Friend, a good great man inherits 
Honor or wealth with all his worth and pains ! 
It sounds like stories from the land of spirits, 
If any man obtains that which he merits, 
5 Or any merit that which he obtains." 

For shame, dear Friend ! renounce this canting strain ! 

What wouldst thou have a good great man obtain ? 

Place — titles — salary — a gilded chain — 

Or throne of corses which his sword hath slain ? 

10 Greatness and goodness are not means, but ends ! 

Hath he not always treasures, always friends, 
The good great man ? — three treasures, love, and light 

And calm thoughts regular as infant's breath ; 
And three firm friends more sure than day and night — 
15 Himself, his Maker, and the angel Death. 

Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 



this sentence ? Define integrity, dissimulation, etc. 

Trace the semicolons. Let them aid you in recogniz- 
ing thought divisions. How many divisions do they 
here indicate ? Some authors would punctuate these 
portions as separate sentences. Would such a change 
materially affect the reading in this particular case .? 

31. The poet is replying to the pessimistic remark 
of a friend. The remark is given in stanza i. 
Study the combination good great (line i). 
Stories from the land of spirits sound unbelievable. 

Canting (line 6), complaining. 

Explain the significance of the individual queries in 
line 8. Explain the meaning of line 10. 



28 TEACHING TO READ 

32. BRUTUS IN THE FORUM AFTER THE MURDER 

OF CtESAR 

From Julius Ccesar. Act III. Scene II. 

^ Romans, countrymen, and lovers ! hear me for my 
cause, and be silent, that you may hear; believe me 
for mine honor, and have respect to mine honor, that 
you may believe ; censure me in your wisdom, and 
awake your senses, that you may the better judge. 
^ If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of 
Caesar's, to him I say that Brutus' love to Caesar was 
no less than his. ^ If then that friend demand why 
Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer, — Not 
that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. 
^ Had you rather Caesar were living, and die all slaves, 
than that Caesar were dead, to live all freemen ? ^ As 
Caesar loved me, I weep for him ; as he was fortunate, 
I rejoice at it ; as he was valiant, I honor him ; but 
as he was ambitious, I slew him. ^ There is tears for 
his love, joy for his fortune, honor for his valor, and 
death for his ambition. ^ Who is here so base that would 
be a bondman ? ^ If any, speak, for him have I ojBFended. 
^ Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman ? 
^° If any, speak, for him have I offended. ^^ Who is 
here so vile that will not love his country I ^^ If any, 
speak, for him have I offended. ^^ I pause for a reply. 

All. None, Brutus, none. 

Brutus. ^ Then none have I offended. ^ I have 
done no more t6 Caesar than you shall do to Brutus. 
^ The question of his death is enrolled in the Capitol ; 
his glory not extenuated, wherein he was worthy, nor 
his offences enforc'd, for which he suffered death. 

William Shakespeare. 

32. A tactful, logical, argumentative speech in 
which every sentence is carefully moulded. 

The effect upon the people was such that, at its close, they 



STUDIES IN RELATIVE THOUGHT VALUES OF WORDS 29 

wished to carry the assassin home in triumph : " Give him a 
statue with his ancestors," and "Let him be Caesar." But 
another tactful, logical, argumentative speech followed by 
Antony, the friend of Caesar, and they were swayed to the 
opposite extreme and clamored for the death of the traitors. 

Lovers, those held in affection ; friends. 

Study the parts in the first sentence that are divided 
by semicolons. How do they differ as to thought ? 
Arts. The first deals with hearing, the second with 
believing, and the third with censuring. 

Compare the balanced arrangement of the parts in 
the three divisions : 

hear me for my cause || and be silent | that you may hear 
believe me for mine honor 1 1 and have respect to mine 

honor | that you may believe 

censure me in your wisdom || and awake your senses | that 

you may the better judge. 

Why is the relation between the second and third 
portions closer than between the first and what follows .^ 
Sometimes we find the sentence printed with semi- 
colons after cause, honor, and wisdom, which means, of 
course, that the main divisions will be separated by colons. 

Censure me, judge me; decide for or against me. 

Trace the balanced portions in sentence 4. 

Note not only the balance preserved between the 
parts of sentence 5, but also the contrast in thought 
between the last part and those that preceded it. 

Locate the contrast in sentence 6. 

Note the method by which the speaker leads his 
hearers up to a decision in his favor, and the finality 
with which he states it for them. 



30 TEACHING TO READ 

Suggestive Questions for Written Review 

Note. The written reviews are not meant to take the 
place of oral examinations. The test of oral reading must 
always be oral reading ; but the advantage of securing a defi- 
nite reply from every pupil to such questions as the follow- 
ing will be readily appreciated. 

1. How many and what ideas do you wish to impress 
upon your hearers in No. i ^ 

2. OutHne the balancing of ideas in sentence 2, No. 5. 

3. (No. 6.) What is the author discussing .? What 
relation does sentence 2 bear to sentence i ? 

4. Paraphrase No. 8.* 

5. Explain the truth of No. 10. 

6. (No. 14.) How do you know that the Emperor's 
powers of endurance were recognized .? That they were 
recognized by many .? That they had been tested .? 
That they had been tested many times ? 

7. (No. 23.) What object had Bozzaris in making 
this plea .? Wherein lies its greatest power to attain 
this object .? 

8. (No. 28.) Who was Zenobia .? What word is un- 
derstood in ^2, sentence 4 ? 

9. Give the meaning of the following words in No. 
30: sincerity, dissemble, counterfeit, pains, personate. 

10. (No. 32.) What object had Brutus in making the 
speech .^ Name two ways in which he shows argumen- 
tative tact. Quote a sentence to illustrate each. 

Follow the written examination with a test in reading 
difficult passages aloud, — both old and new matter, — 
remembering that the final test in reading is not how much 
one can tell about the thought, but how truthfully he can 
express it. 

* Such questions are not introduced with the idea of cor- 
relating composition and reading. Paraphrasing is to be 
regarded as a definite part of reading work, and here as the 
written test of the pupil's comprehension of the thought. 



CHAPTER II 
STUDIES IN GROUPING 

The second problem of expression is the problem of 
grouping. 

Material has been selected that offers special practice 
in this field, and ehminates, so far as possible, the ex- 
pressive and constructive problems of succeeding 
chapters. 

Gradation from the easy to the difficult is the natural 

order of procedure. 

Pedagogical Introduction 

The process of grouping, through constant habit, 
is instinctive. We find it in its simplest form in the 
pronunciation of all words of more than one syllable. 
Such words are made up of groups of syllable sounds, 
as pre-ma-ture. Separated {pre ma ture), these syllables 
mean nothing; spoken correctly together, they stand 
for an idea. To speak them correctly, we must not 
only sound each syllable distinctly, but we must rec- 
ognize the leading syllable. 

A child learning to talk begins with a single sound 
or syllable. Gradually through imitation he uses words 
of two syllables, as papa, mama. Then we find him 
grouping two words: Bahy — drink; Water — more. 
These first groups are always made up of strongly 

31 



32 TEACHING TO READ 

significant words. It is a long time before he begins 
to deal with subordinate words, — before he says, " A 
drink ; " " The baby." He will say, " Mama — bird — 
pretty," long before he will say, " The pretty bird." 
But, some day, he will come running with eager feet 
and call, " Mama, come and see the pretty bird." It 
will slip " trippingly " from the tongue, — ■ every signifi- 
cant word in its true degree of prominence and the sub- 
ordinate words passed over with easy lightness. An idea 
entered his mind and spontaneously he expressed it. 

He enters school. One by one strange word signs 
are placed before him. Eagerly he strives to give 
each one its proper name : hat, rat, cat — the cat. 
Patiently the teacher urges him to say " the cat " ; 
but she has presented a new word sign which stands 
new and strange beside the one already learned. For 
many months he has said thecAT, theMOUSE, theHORSE. 
He said it instinctively and the meant nothing to him. 
Now it means a strange new sign, and small wonder 
that he utters it with the prominent separateness 
which it has suddenly assumed in his mind. " The 
CAT," urges the teacher, but "the cat" it often 
long remains with stubborn persistence, — and the first 
seed of unnatural expression is sown. 

The study of grouping is a study of thought units in 
whatever form they may occur, — words, phrases, 
clauses, or entire short sentences ; as. 

The beautiful child who had - - all this time been 

waiting by the palace gate - - turned - sadly - away. 

Will you do it ? I will. 

It involves not only the separation of the sentence 



STUDIES IN GROUPING 33 

into the thought units, but an appreciation of the rela- 
tive degrees of importance of the words in the thought 
units themselves ; as, 

Out of SIGHT - - out of MIND. 

Punctuation only assists the reader in grouping. To 
indicate all thought groups with punctuation marks 
would be to spatter the printed page unnecessarily 
and to confusion. The author takes for granted that 
the people who will read his words are intelligent and 
able to do much of the grouping for themselves. So 
he indicates the main groups according to established 
grammatical rules, which themselves are based on the 
thought, and leaves his readers to make the others. 
Notice how the grammatical groups subdivide in the 
following : 

Ten guineas, added to about two - - which I had remaining 
from my pocket money, seemed - - to me - - sufficient for an 
indefinite length of time. 

Opinions may differ regarding divisions, because two 
people may not be equally impressed with the impor- 
tance of a certain phrase or clause, but the underlying 
principle of unity remains unchanged. 

A thought group occasionally combines two gram- 
matical groups : 

" O, young Lochinvar has come out of the west." 

" Why, Sir, I was so astonished that I could hardly speak." 

To observe the comma after 0, as it is sometimes 
found punctuated, is to detract unnecessarily from the 
important introduction of the hero of the tale ; and. 



34 TEACHING TO READ 

in natural conversation, the comma after Why might, 
or might not, be observed. 

Grammatical grouping and thought grouping very 
often exactly coincide, as can be seen in selection No. 23. 

Occasionally we must consider the punctuation very 
carefully in order to determine the meaning, and group 
accordingly : 

" Frobisher, the intrepid explorer for the Northwest 
Passage, accused Admiral Drake of cowardice during the 
action with the Spanish Armada." 

The cowardice was during the action, etc. ; not the 
accusation. ' 

Some authors use punctuation marks much more 
freely than others, as will be seen by a comparison of 
Nos. 24 and 25.* 

A teacher should refer to the use of punctuation 
marks, and their usefulness to a reader, and particularly 
to a sight reader, as often and as long as conditions 
show that such instruction is needed. Let the office 
of the colon and the semicolon, in particular, be thor- 
oughly understood. Teach punctuation, not from the 
grammatical standpoint (that is the business of the 
grammar class), but from the interpretative standpoint. 
In the grammar class we may say : What mark of punc- 
tuation belongs in that place, and why should it be 
placed there ? In the reading class we say. The mark 
is there : What does it mean .? 

*No effort has been made to reduce the punctuation of 
the selections in this book to uniformity. Care has been 
taken only that they shall accord with standard editions. 
Pupils must be trained to interpret literature as it stands, 
and to do this requires an understanding of the general laws 
of punctuation. 



STUDIES IN GROUPING 35 

SELECTIONS AND SUGGESTIVE STUDIES 

1. Out of sight, out of mind. 

2. Whatever is done must be done quickly. 

3. I found the passage to which he referred. 

4. The place from which the light proceeded was a 
small chapel. 

5. The merchant gave the sailor who rescued him 
a thousand dollars. 

1. With the grouping indicated for us. See Intro- 
duction, page 33. 

2. What are we talking about ? Ans. Whatever 
is done . What is said about it } Ans. It must he 
done quickly. 

3. Not, I found the passage -- to which he referred. 
Found what \ Ans. The passage to which he referred, 
— a particular passage. 

4. Not, The place --from which the light proceeded 
was a small chapel, but, The place from which the light 
proceeded - - was a small chapel. 

5. Who gave a thousand dollars? Ans. The mer- 
chant. 

How much did the merchant give \ Ans. A thou- 
sand dollars. 

To whom did the merchant give a thousand dollars? 
Ans. To the sailor who rescued him. 

Keep in mind as you read that you have three ideas 



36 TEACHING TO READ 

6. Our next care was to bring the booty home with- 
out meeting the enemy. 

7. She seemed as happy as a wave 
That dances on the sea. 

8. The German explorers in the Polar regions built 
their cabins on ice forty-five feet thick. 



to present : Who gave the money ; to whom the money 
was given ; and how much money was given. 

Do not be too much concerned if such exact phrasing 
at this point appears to be " chopping up " the reading 
too much. The longer paragraphs and longer and more 
complicated sentences soon to come will correct effectu- 
ally any such tendency. We cannot hope to teach 
pupils to see and express the parts of difficult, involved 
sentences, if we do not first lead them to see and express 
the parts of shorter, simpler sentences. 

6. Our next care - - was to bring the booty home without 
meeting the enemy , 

7. Keep the group expressing the comparison con- 
tinuous. How happy? 

8. Not, The German explorers --in the Polar regions, 
but The German explorers in the Polar regions, — parti- 
cular German explorers. 

Not, built their cabins on ice - - forty-five feet thick, but 
on ice forty -five feet thick . There is something remark- 
able in the thought as shown by the latter phrasing, 
but it would not be worth while to read that Polar 
explorers built their cabins on ice ! 



STUDIES IN GROUPING 37 

9. When to give up business and enjoy their wealth 
is a problem never solved by some, 

10. The Sandwich Islander is confident that the 
strength and valor of his slain enemy pass into himself. 

11. Not a habitation nor an inhabitant along the 
route was spared. 

» 

12. At the opening of the thirteenth century, 
Oxford took and held rank with the greatest schools 
of Europe. 



9. Note that it is a single problem made up of two 
parts ; namely, When to give up business and enjoy 
their wealth. Also, that it is a particularly described 
-problem, — a problem never solved by some. 

Appreciation of the thought value of problem and 
never solved may introduce pauses of emphasis, but the 
inflection should show that the reader recognizes the 
continuousness of the group. 

10. A sentence that contains a single thought group, 
but is too long to be read easily as such, should be sepa- 
rated into parts to show what it is about, and what 
is said about it. 

Be alert for a break after enemy. Is confident of 
what } 

11. Both the habitation and the inhabitant must be 
along the route. 

12. Took and held what .? Not rank, but rank 'zuith 
the greatest schools of Europe. 



38 TEACHING TO READ 

13. There is nothing so easy but that it becomes 
difficult when you do it with reluctance. Terence. 

14. If a word spoken in its time is worth one piece 
of money, silence in its time is worth two. Talmud. 

15. A lie which is all a lie may be met and fought 

with outright, 
But a lie which is part a truth is a harder matter 
to ngnt. ^}^g Grandmother — Alfred Tennyson. 

16. A tart temper never mellows with age, and a 
sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener 
with constant use. ^{p Van Winkle — Washington Irving. 



13. Do not allow the importance of difficult and its 
balanced relation to easy to destroy the grouping that 
tells us that it becomes difficult only under a certain 
condition. 

14. What statement forms the basis of the argument \ 

I 2 

If a word spoken in its time is worth one piece of money 

.3 . . 4 . . 5 

silence - - in its time - - - is worth two. 

Observe the balance between the first and the third 
and fourth,, and between the second and the fifth. 

Talmud, the book of Hebrew laws, consisting of two parts : 
one, the written law ; the other, a collection of traditions and 
comments of Jewish doctors of law, or learned men. 

15. What may he met and fought with outright? 
What is a harder matter to fight ? 

16. Not, the only edged tool, but the only edged tool 
that grows keener with constant use. 



STUDIES IN GROUPING 39 

17. They sat them down upon the yellow sand, 
Between the sun and moon upon the shore. 

The Lotos-Eaters — Alfred Tennyson. 

18. All that tread 

The globe are but a handful to the tribes 
That slumber in its bosom. 

Thanatopsis — William Cullen Bryant. 

19. The ship canal across the Isthmus of Suez was 
dug in order that European vessels need not sail around 
the Cape of Good Hope to reach the Orient. 

17. Do not group the sun and moon upon the shore. 

18. Express the thought in your own words. Ex- 
ample: The living are but a handful in number when 
compared with the dead. 

Observe that tread and slumber are but parts of 
figurative expressions. 

Notice that the pupil who phrases, All that tread the 
globe are but a handful --to the tribes that slumber in its 
bosom, momentarily states an untruth. 

Distinguish carefully between pauses following 
thought-filled words and pauses that mark thought 
groups. A pause of the former type may occur after 
handful, and the continuousness of grouping be still 
maintained through inflection. 

19. y^\\2it was dug? Not, The ship canal-- across 
the Isthmus of Suez, but The ship canal across the 
Isthmus of Suez . 

Keep the group expressing the purpose continuous, 
and, at the same time, do not undervalue the words 
that have special meaning. Was dug — why ? 



40 TEACHING TO READ 

20. Were it not for the warm waters of the Gulf 
Stream, the harbors and the rivers of Britain would 
be blocked with ice for a large part of the year. 

21. Though the atmosphere presses on us with a 
load of fifteen pounds to every square inch of surface, 
still we do not feel its weight. 

22. The principal nobles were delivered up as hos- 
tages and were thrown into prison, although honorable 
treatment had been promised them. 



20, 21. Inverted forms need to be carefully grouped 
to avoid confusion in the mind of the hearer, and to 
enable him to adjust the various parts as they are 
successively presented. 

20. Keep the effect of the main clause continuous, 
but do not obscure the words that are of special im- 
portance. 

21. Keep the clause of concession complete. 

22. With how many thoughts does the sentence deal ? 
Ans. Two. — The delivering up of the principal nobles 
as hostages, and the treatment accorded them in op- 
position to the promise. The recognition of this 
division will correct the grouping that causes the last 
clause to stand in opposition to both delivering them 
up as hostages and throwing them into prison. The 
position of the single comma may be misleading. 

Hostage, a person given as a pledge or security for the per- 
formance of the conditions of a treaty, on the performance of 
which the person is to be released. 

Although, originally, was more emphatic than though. 



STUDIES IN GROUPING 4I 

23. I would do what I pleased, and doing what I 
pleased, I should have my will ; and having my will, 
I should be contented ; and when one is contented, 
there is no more to be desired ; and when there is no 
more to be desired, there is an end to it. 

Don Quixote — Miguel Cervantes. 

24. When we have practiced good actions awhile, 
they become easy; and, when they are easy, we begin 
to take pleasure in them ; and, when they please us, 
we do them frequently ; and, by frequency of acts, 
they grow into a habit. John Tillotson. 

25. A ruler who appoints any man to an office when 
there is in his dominions another man better qualified 
for it sins against God and against the state. Kc 



.or an. 



26. The progress of mankind towards the holy city 
of God is like that of some penitents, who on their 
pilgrimage to Jerusalem always take three steps for- 
ward and one backward. Jean Paul Richter. 



23 . The grammatical grouping and the thought group- 
ing exactly coincide. 

24. The punctuation is absolutely correct. Read, 
observing all the commas. What is the effect .? 

Which grammatical groups may be phrased together ? 

25. Compare with No. 24. 

Koran, the sacred book of the Mohammedans and the 
textbook in all Mohammedan schools. 

26. Judge whether the pupil's pause after penitents 
is one of completeness or incompleteness of thought. 

What are you reading about ? 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ — -4 



42 TEACHING TO READ 

27. Good breeding is the result of much good sense, 
some good nature, and a Httle self-denial for the sake 
of others, and with a view to obtain the same indulgence 
from them. i,«,„ ,„ His Son - Eakl o. Chbstbkk.e... 

28. It has been observed that the height of a man 
from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot is 
equal to the distance between the tips of the middle 
fingers of the two hands when extended in a straight 

^^^^' Natural History — Pliny the Elder. 

29. The beautiful child, who had all this time been 
waiting at the palace gate, turned sadly away. 

30. The sun that brief December day 
Rose cheerless over hills of gray, 
And, darkly circled, gave at noon 
A sadder light than waning moon. 

Snow-Bound — John Greenleaf Whittier. 



27. How many parts to the definition ? Ans. 
Three. What is the first ? The second ? What is the 

third ^ Ans. A little self-denial for the sake of others, 
and with a view to obtain the same indulgence from them. 

Good breeding is the result of what three things .? 
Ans. Good sense, good nature, and self-denial. How 
much good sense? How much good nature? How 
much self-denial? 

Self-denial for what two things ,^ Ans. For the sake 
of others, and with a view to obtain the same for ourselves. 
Do you see any selfishness in that part of the definition ? 

28. Study the divisions and subdivisions. First, 
wh^Lt has been observed? Ans. All that follows. Then, 



STUDIES IN GROUPING 43 

31. But when the gray dawn stole into his tent, 
He rose, and clad himself, and girt his sword. 
And took his horseman's cloak, and left his tent, 
And went abroad into the cold wet fog. 
Through the dim camp to Peran-Wisa's tent. 

Sohrab and Rustum — Matthew Arnold. 

32. He that knows not, and knows not that he knows 
not, is a fool ; avoid him. 

He who knows not, and knows that he knows not, is 
simple ; teach him. 

He who knows, and knows not that he knows, is 
asleep ; wake him. 

But he who knows and knows that he knows, is a 
wise man ; fallow him. Arabian Proverbs. 

what is equal to the distance, etc. ? Not, of the two hands, 
but of the two hands when extended in a straight line . 

29. Answers to such questions as, — How \ When ? 
Where t What t — are frequently effective aids to group- 
ing. Note how the separating of such a group brings 
the idea into prominence. The beautiful child did what \ 
Ans. Turned away. How 1 Ans. Sadly. What beauti- 
ful child? Who had been waiting how long ? 

30. The sun — did what.? Rose — where.? How? 
When.? Gave — what.? When.? 

31. He (Sohrab) did how many things ? 

Are some of the groups more closely connected in 
thought than others .? Can you see any reason for the 
omission of a comma after camp ? 

32. Good reading of this phrasing requires skillful 
reading of repeated words. 



44 



TEACHING TO READ 



33. For right is right, since God is God, 

And right the day must win ; 
To doubt would be disloyalty. 
To falter would be sin. 

The Right Must Win — Frederick William Faber. 

34. The muffled drum's sad roll has beat 

The soldier's last tattoo ; 
No more on life's parade shall meet 

That brave and fallen few. 
On fame's eternal camping ground 

Their silent tents are spread. 



3 3 . Does the thought grouping agree with the caesura] 
grouping .f* 

For right is right, || since God is God, 
And right || the day must win; 

To doubt II would be disloyalty. 
To falter |i would be sin. 

Caesura (sezu'r^), a metrical pause so introduced as to aid 
the recital, and to render the versification more melodious, 
as well as to express more clearly the meaning. It divides a 
verse or line into equal or unequal parts. 

34. Can you, in each case, see a reason for the group- 
ing indicated ? 

The muffled drum's sad roll || has beat 

The soldier's last tattoo; || 
No more on life's parade || shall meet 

That brave | and fallen j few. || 
On fame's eternal camping ground | 

Their silent tents are spread, || 
And glory | guards, | with solemn round, | 

The bivouac I of the dead.ll 



STUDIES IN GROUPING 45 

And glory guards, with solemn round, 
The bivouac of the dead. 

No rumor of the foe's advance 

Now swells upon the wind ; 
No troubled thought at midnight haunts 

Of loved ones left behind ; 
No vision of the morrow's strife 

The warrior's dream alarrns ; 
No braying horn nor screaming fife 

At dawn shall call to arms. 

The Bivouac of the Dead — Theodore O'Hara. 



No rumor of the foe's advance | 

Now swells upon the wind ; || 
No troubled thought | at midnight | haunts | 

Of loved ones left behind ; |] 
No vision of the morrow's strife | 

The warrior's dream | alarrns; || 
No braying horn | nor screaming fife | 

At dawn I shall call to arms. H 

Note the words that come into prominence through 
inferred comparison; as, last tattoo; life's parade; 
fame's eternal camping ground; silent tents; glory 
guards; solemn round; bivouac of the dead. 

Is a muffled drum always used to beat a tattoo? 

With what other tattoos does this one contrast 
(line 2) ? With what other camping ground (Hne 5) .? 
yslhy eternal? ^hy fame's? Etc. 

When the remains of the Kentucky soldiers who fell at 
Buena Vista (Feb. 22-23, 1847) were removed to their native 
state, Mr. O'Hara wrote " The Bivouac of the Dead " in 
commemoration of his comrades, among whom was the son 
of Henry Clay. The entire ode was read at the dedication 



46 TEACHING TO READ 

35. The covering of animals is the first thing which 
presents itself to our observation, and is, in truth, both 
for its variety and its suitableness to their several 
natures, as much to be admired as any part of their 
structure. . . . The covering of birds cannot escape 
the most vulgar observation. Its lightness, its smooth- 
ness, its warmth, the disposition of the feathers, all 
inclined backward, the down upon their stems, the 
overlapping of their tips, the variety of their colors, 
constitute a vestment for the body, so beautiful, and 
so appropriate to the life which the animal is to lead, 
that, I think, we have no conception of anything 
equally perfect. Natural Theology — William Paley. 



of the monument at Frankfort. Lines from this poem are 
found over the gates of many of our national cemeteries 
and on many monuments. 

35. Not, is the first thing, but, is the first thing which 
presents itself to our observation. Not, both for its variety 
and its suitableness to their several natures , but, both for its 
variety - - and its suitableness to their several natures. 

How many qualities are named concerning the vest- 
ment for their body? Ans. Seven. What are they .f* 
How does the fourth differ in form from the others .? 
Ans. It has an explanation attached. 

Be alert for the grouping, so beautiful - - and so ap- 
propriate --to the life which the animal is to lead. Also 
for we have no conception of anything-- equally perfect^ 
— another momentary untruth. 

36. Stanza I. What is the leading statement .? Under 
what condition need I not be missed? Ans. Not, if 
another succeed me (another will succeed me), but, if 



STUDIES IN GROUPING 47 

36. THE EVERLASTING MEMORIAL 

I need not be missed if another succeed me 

To reap down those fields which in spring I have sown ; 

He who plowed and who sowed is not missed by the 
reaper, 
He is only remembered by what he has done. 

Not myself, but the truth that in hfe I have spoken, 
Not myself, but the seed that in life I have sown, 

Shall pass on to ages, — all about me forgotten. 

Save the truth I have spoken, the things I have done. 

So let my living be, so be my dying ; 

So let my name lie, unblazoned, unknown ; 
Unpraised and unmissed, I shall still be remembered ; 

Yes, but remembered by what I have done. 

HoRATius BoNAR. (Abridged.) 



another succeed me to rea p down those fields which in 
spring I have sown (to carry on my work). Do not 
undervalue plowed, sowed, missed, or reaper, and be alert 
for He is only remembered --by what he has done. He is 
not missed - - but he is remembered by wh at he has done. 

Stanza 2. What balances not myself in line i ? In 
line 2 ? 

How many things shall pass on to ages? Ans. The 
truth that in life I have spoken and the seed that in life 
I have sown. 

Do not overlook the force of me Rnd forgotten (line 3). 

Be alert for Save the truth -- I have spoken, - - the 
things -- / have done. Save (or except) how many 
things ? Ans. Two : The truth I have spoken and 
the things I have done. Save must be read in such a way 



48 TEACHING TO READ 

37. THE AUTOMOBILE 
From How Automobiles Work. Stories of Inventors. 

1. Every boy and almost every man has longed to 
ride on a locomotive, and has dreamed of holding the 
throttle-lever and of feeling the great machine move 
under him in answer to his will. Many of us have 
protested vigorously that we wanted to become grimy, 
hard-working jfiremen for the sake of having to do with 
the " iron horse." 

2. It is this joy of control that comes to the driver 
of an automobile which is one of the motor car's chief 
attractions : It is the longing of the boy to run a loco- 
motive reproduced in the grown-up. 

3. The ponderous, snorting, thundering locomotive, 
towering high above its steel road, seems far removed 
from the swift, crouching, almost noiseless motor car, 
and yet the relationship is very close. In fact, the 
automobile, which is but a locomotive that runs at 
will anywhere, is the father of the greater machine. 

4. About the beginning of 1800, self-propelled 
vehicles steamed along the roads of Old England carry- 



that it will clearly except both. 

Stanza 3. Meaning of so? To what does so refer .? 

Let my living be how .^ Let my dying be how .? Let 
my name lie how .^ Ans. In keeping with the thought 
that a man is rememhered by what he has done. 

Express the meaning of line 3 more fully ; of line 4. 

What is a memorial } What is " The Everlasting 
Memorial " .? 

Observe the deceivingness of the stanzas, in that they 
appear to rime but do not. 

37. 1[i. Sentence i. Every hoy and almost every 



STUDIES IN GROUPING 49 

ing passengers safely, if not swiftly, and, strange to say, 
continued to run more or less successfully until pro- 
hibited by law from using the highways, because of 
their interference with the horse traffic. Therefore 
the locomotive and the railroads throve at the expense 
of the automobile, and the permanent iron-bound right 
of way of the railroads left the highways to the horse. 

5. The old-time automobiles were cumbrous affairs, 
with clumsy boilers, and steam engines that required 
one man's entire attention to keep them going. The 
concentrated fuels were not known in those days, 
and heat economizing appliances were not invented. 

6. It was the invention by Gottlieb Daimler of the 
high-speed gasohne engine, in 1885, that really gave 
an impetus to the building of efficient automobiles 
of all powers. The success of his explosive gasoline 
engine was the incentive to inventors to perfect the 
steam engine for use on self-propelled vehicles. 

7. To-day, gigantic motor trucks carrying tons of 
freight twist in and out through crowded streets, con- 
trolled by one man more easily than a driver guides 
a spirited horse on a country road. Frail motor 
bicycles dash round the platter-Kke curves of cycle 
tracks at railroad speed, and cHmb hills while the riders 
sit at ease with feet on coasters. Motor plows, motor 
ambulances, motor stages, delivery wagons, street- 
cars without tracks, pleasure vehicles, and even baby 
carriages, are to be seen everywhere. 

8. In 1845, motor vehicles were forbidden the streets 
for the sake of the horses ; to-day the horses are being 
crowded off by the motor cars. The motor is the 
more economical — it is the survival of the fittest. 

Russell Doubleday. (Abridged.) 

man has done how many things } What are they ? 
Ans. Longed, etc., and dream^ed, etc. 

Has dreamed of how many things ? Of feeling what ? 



50 TEACHING TO READ 

Ans. Not, the machiney or, the machine move under him, 
but, the m,achine move under him in answer to his will. 

Sentence 2. Protested — how? What? Why? 

1[2. What is one of the motor car^s chief attractions? 
What is reproduced in the grown-up? 

1(5. Steam engines that required one mans entire 
attention to keep them going. 

%6. That really gave an impetus to the building of 
efficient automobiles of all powers. 

The success of his explosive gasoline engine --was the 
incentive to inventors to perfect what ? Not, the steam 
engine., but, the steam engine for use on self-propelled 
vehicles. Be alert to the thought value of individual 
words. (No attempt has been made to indicate pauses 
of emphasis.) 

Give the meaning of the following words ; throttle-lever., 
ponderous, traffic, throve, cumbrous, impetus, efficient, 
incentive, trucks, frail, coasters, ambulances, vehicles. 

Explain the meaning of the following expressions : 
protested vigorously, self-propelled vehicles, permanent 
iron-bound right of way, concentrated fuels, heat econo- 
mizing appliances. 

Teachers should insist that all replies be clearly and 
definitely stated. Do not accept, /' I know what it 
means, but I cannot express it." A pupil can express 
it if he consults the proper aid, — the Dictionary. 

38. According to Greek mythology, Orpheus was the son 
of Apollo, the god of music. His father presented him with 
the lyre and taught him to play upon it. This he did to such 
perfection that not only his fellow mortals but wild beasts 
stood entranced. Trees crowded closer round him, and 
rocks lost something of their hardness, softened by his notes. 



STUDIES IN GROUPING 5 1 

38. ORPHEUS WITH HIS LUTE 

From King Henry the Eighth. Act III. Scene I. 

Orpheus with his lute made trees, 
And the mountain-tops that freeze, 

Bow themselves when he did sing ; 
To his music plants and flowers 
Ever sprung, as sun and showers 

There had made a lasting Spring. 

Everything that heard him play. 
Even the billows of the sea, '^ 

Hung their heads, and then lay by. 
In sweet music is such art. 
Killing care and grief of heart 

Fall asleep or hearing die. 

William Shakespeare. 

In the play, when the Queen says to her attendant, 

" My soul grows sad with troubles. 
Sing and disperse 'em, if thou canst,* 

the maiden weaves the old story into the song, which she 
sings to the accompaniment of her own lute. 

Stanza i. Orpheus made how many things how them- 
selves ? Made them — how 1 When ? 

Lines 4-6. Plants and flowers sprung to his music as 
(if) sun and showers had made there (where the music 
was heard, or where he played) a lasting Spring. 

Sprung, took on newness of life. 

Stanza 2. Billows hung their heads. — Could one 
imagine more exquisite praise than that the water 
would cease in its falling to listen .? Could it be true .? 
Why does the extravagant praise not offend you ? 



52 TEACHING TO READ 

And then lay hy, — calmed. 

Such art (that) killing care (care that kills) and griej 
of heart fall asleep or listening die. 

Art, power through skill. 

Compare lines 5 and 6 with the Queen's words. 

The semicolon in stanza i and the first period in 
stanza 2 indicate two main divisions to each stanza. 

Suggestive Questions for Written Review 

1. Indicate, by dashes of separation your grouping 
for Nos. 4, 5, 6, 8, and 16. 

2. When a sentence appears to be a single group 
but is too long to read comfortably as such, how, 
generally, may we best divide it ? 

3. Why is the following grouping incorrect .f* 
(No. 7.) She seemed as happy as a wave || 

That dances on the sea. 
(No. II.) Not a habitation -- nor an inhabitant 
along the route - - was spared. 

4. (No. 18.) What incorrect grouping would momen- 
tarily tell an untruth .^ 

(No. 22.) Which action is opposed to honorable 
treatment ? 

5. Quote an illustration in which the grammatical 
groups and the expression groups coincide. One in 
which they differ. 

6. Indicate your preferred phrasing for No. 34 by 
parallel lines (||). If the importance of a word causes 
unusual pause, 3^ou may indicate it by a single line (|). 

7. (No. 35.) What does Mr. Paley mean by suitable- 
ness to their several natures, vulgar observation, disposi- 
tion of the feathers, constitute a vestment? 

8. (No. 36.) To what " Everlasting Memorial " does 
the title refer .^ 

9. Quote the sentence or paragraph that seems to 
you the finest in Chapter II. 



CHAPTER III 
STUDIES IN CONNECTIVES 

Grammar teaches us that coordinate conjunctions 
connect words, phrases, and clauses of equal rank; 
in reading, we find that the connected words, phrases, 
and clauses are of equal thought value. 

Conjunctions are *' signboards," and each has a 
message of its own. For instance : 

And connects words, phrases, and clauses of equal 
thought value, and therefore tells us that the part to 
follow is equally important with the part that has gone 
before. (See illustration No. i.) 

Or connects parts of equal thought value, but we 
may know that between them there is always a choice. 
(See No. 15.) 

But bespeaks the presence of a second part; and it 
tells us that the second will be opposed, in some way, 
to the first. (No. 23.) 

For signals that it is followed by an explanation or 
reason for what precedes, or if the form is inverted, 
for what follows ; and so on through the Hst of well- 
known words, whose meanings the Dictionary will 
unfold. 

A preposition is a connective having an object that 
it. connects with some other part of the sentence. 

53 



54 TEACHING TO READ 

Pedagogical Introduction 

Faulty reading of words, phrases, and clauses con- 
nected by and is one of the most common errors in 
school reading. What teacher has not wrestled with 
the tendency of pupils to place undue emphasis on 
connectives, particularly coordinate conjunctions and 
prepositions that express naturally inferred relation- 
ships ? It is one of the most noticeable errors in the 
reading of poetry, and invariably present in " sing- 
song." Undue emphasis, however, is not the real 
fault ; it is only the outward manifestation of careless 
and incorrect thinking. 

In the sentence, " The United States has a large 
home and foreign trade in wheat," pupils will read, 
home-and-foreign^ as though the two words stood for 
one kind of trade, just as they would say hy and by, 
meaning presently, — regardless of the fact that the 
ideas conveyed by home -Sindi foreign may be as far apart 
as the width of the ocean. Or, they may read, home - - 
and foreign trade^ as though home bore the same relation 
to the thought as trade, and that trade was modified 
hy foreign only. 

To correct this half-thoughtless, half-mechanical 
sort of reading, pupils should be led one step beyond 
the recognition and appreciation of individual words 
or groups of words. They should learn the functions 
of certain words and know the conditions that confront 
them when such words appear on the printed page. 

The presence of and, for instance, means the presence 
of two words, two phrases, or two clauses of equal 
importance. 



STUDIES IN CONNECTIVES 55 

The deer and the bear are still Name words — nouns, 
hunted in Pennsylvania. 

They raised him and bore him Action words — verbs, 
away. 

A well-known and popular Descriptive words — 

leader was the speaker of the day. adjectives. 

Slowly and sadly we laid him Words that tell how 

dow^n. — adverbs. 

He searched for his hat along Groups of words — 

the path and in the house. phrases. 

Summer came and fall passed Separate thoughts — 

and the fugitive did not return. clauses. 

The and is but the pin that fastens the parts together. 
When the pupil realizes this, and that, as a rule, the 
meaning of the sentence is in the other words, — when 
he grasps the full significance of those other words, — 
correct expression will take care of itself. 

He reasons : Aiid is a connective. What does it 
connect .? He holds the first portion in mind until he 
finds the second ; performs a quick mental appraisal 
of the two and expresses each as complete. 

Or, too, connects, but it allows a choice. 

I will sell you the farm land on the hillside or the town lot. 

To choose we must compare. To compare we must 
see the ideas side by side. Therefore the reader must 
hold the first idea in mind, even as he expresses the 
second, and present both to his hearers in such a way 
that they can grasp the relative values. 

But connects two parts, but the second part is, in 
some way, opposed to the first, or is an exception to it. 
Knowing this, even the sight reader is prepared for 
the character of the second portion, — however long 



56 TEACHING TO READ 

and involved — ^the moment he sees the connective. 
He was a good talker but a poor listener. 

For assigns a cause, a reason, or a result, and some such 
line of thought is sure to follow. And so on through 
the list of well-known words whose meanings and uses 
pupils never think of looking up, because they imagine 
that they know them or that the words do not mean 
anything in particular, but which are, in reality, prep- 
aration signals for the reader : if, still, yet, because, 
and, both . . and, or, either . . or, nor, neither . . nor, 
whether, whether . . or, though, although, unless, however, 
nevertheless, therefore, wherefore, since ( = because), as 
(= because), that, then, than, lest, etc. 

A preposition connects its object with some other part 
of the sentence. The importance of the relation be- 
tween the two determines its thought value. In the 
following there is no particular importance in the re- 
lation expressed by the preposition in: 

The pears in that barrel are not as ripe as the pears in this. 

Consequently, in conversation we frequently hear 
people slurring such a word thus : 

The pearz'n that barrel are not as ripe as the pearz'n this. 

But in such sentences as the following the preposi- 
tions have a definite thought value and consequently 
they are never slurred : 

He rested the boards against the casement. 
I will purchase all except this one. 

Occasionally the preposition becomes the leading word 
because of expressed or implied contrast ; as, 

The cat is on the chair ; the dog is under it. 



STUDIES IN CONNECTIVES 57 

SELECTIONS AND SUGGESTIVE STUDIES 

1. I am busy and content. 

2. The United States has a large home and foreign 
trade in wheat. 

1. How many ideas are expressed in the sentence ? 
What is the first ? What is the second, complete ? 
Ans. I am content. What difference is there in the 
two ideas ? Suggestive Ans. Being busy refers to oc- 
cupation ; contentment is an attribute of the mind. 
Try to express both ideas as you read. 

What is the use of and here ? Ans. Simply to 
connect the two ideas. 

It is true that certain contexts would throw the con- 
nective into prominence; but even that would not 
detract from the equal value of the connected ideas. 
When we consider our literature as a whole, we know 
that such an interpretation is the exception and not 
the rule. 

Mary writes home : "I am busy and content." 

"Mary is busy but not content," comments her 
brother later on. 

" She writes that she is busy and content," corrects 
the mother. 

When the context is not given, there can, of course, 
be no objection to the latter interpretation, but, be 
very sure that the pupil who reads thus has the cor- 
responding condition in mind. The greater part 
of such reading, - particularly in poetry, — will be 
found to be not only thoughtless but incorrect. 

2. How many kinds of trade has the United States .? 
Ans. Two. 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ 5 



58 TEACHING TO READ 

3. Groans and shrieks filled the air. 

4. The mob came roaring out and thronged the place. 

5. The back of the chair was curiously carved in open 
work, to represent flowers and fruit and foliage. 

The question, "What are they?" — should not be 
asked next, because it will bring the answer, " Home- 
and-foreign," which is exactly the interpretation we 
wish to avoid. To avoid it ask : 

What is the first kind of trade mentioned .? What 
do you understand by home trade? Illustrate. 

What is the second kind of trade mentioned .? What 
do you understand hy foreign trade? Illustrate. 

Is there such a thing as a home-and-foreign trade ? 
Ans. No. A country may have a home trade, or a 
foreign trade, or both, but it cannot have a home-an^d- 
foreign trade. 

Be.careful that you do not convey an impossible idea 
by your reading. 

Be alert for the phrasing, home - - and foreign trade. 
The expression must be so read that trade will appear 
to belong no more closely with foreign than it does 
with home. 

3. What filled the air? Are groans and shrieks 
similar 1 Are they related ? Imagine the sounds each 
word suggests and read so that they will not be con- 
fused in the minds of your hearers. 

What is the use of and here ? Ans. It simply pins 
together two thought words. 

4. In what important way do the ideas expressed 



STUDIES IN CONNECTIVES 



59 



6. They brought beds, and basins, and earthen 
vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched 
corn, and beans, and lentils, and parched pulse, and 
honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine. 

7. Flesh and blood could not endure such hardships. 



differ ? Ans. One appeals to the hearing, the other 
to the sight. The first gives an idea of noise; the 
second, of number. 

Read, keeping the noise and number separate. 

Which words convey the idea of large number .? 

What is the use of the and? 

5. 6. Even though we touch ever so lightly upon the 
ands notice how their presence separates the ideas and 
brings each into greater prominence. 

The repetition of the conjunction is sometimes used 
by authors to retard the transition of thought and com- 
pel the reader and hearers to dwell for a moment upon 
each idea separately. 

Read No. 5, omitting the first and, and notice that 
a pause does not produce the same effect as the con- 
junction. 

6. An enumeration of the supplies brought by the 
country people to David (2 Samuel if). The gen- 
erosity of the people and the variety of their gifts doubt- 
less impressed the writer. 

7. Not definite T^^j/i and definite hlood, but a figura- 
tive expression meaning the human body. Unlike 

Nos. 5 and 6. 



6o TEACHING TO READ 

8. By and by the^^ entered a wood where grapevines 
here and there twined themselves round shrub and tree. 

9. Now and then the whippoorwill calls from the hill 
and the grove. 

10. The people arose, and leaped upon the benches, 
and shouted and screamed. Ben Hur — Lewis Wallace. 

11. God made the country, and man made the town. 

. The Task. Book I — William Cowper. 

12. The old man sat down to rest, and the child ran 
to the brook to play in the water. 



8, 9. By and hy. — Not separate ideas, but a phrase, 
denoting " presently." Here and there, indefinite 
location; now and then, indefinite time. 

Compare here and there with shrub and tree. 

10. Study the picture carefully. Do we have four 
separate actions, or one great movement made up of 
four parts ? 

Why did the author* use ands to connect and then 
commas to separate t 

What do the ands say, and what do the commas say t 

11. What does and connect? Observe that an 
understanding of connectives is an aid in grouping. 

12. Never miss a good opportunity to teach the 
construction of sentences, — not from the grammatical 
standpoint, or in grammatical terms (if it can be avoided), 
but from the thought standpoint. One of the very 
best methods of teaching it is through comparison. 



STUDIES IN CONNECTIVES 6 1 

13. The winter is over and gone; the warm south 
wind blowing over the snow banks has melted them 
and they are now running away, joyous and free, down 
the hillsides, and through the meadows, smgmg such 
a merry song that the birds and flowers are wakmg up 

and Hstening to it. i , • 1 ^^c 

The day is gaining on the night, and the bright, hte- 
giving rays of the sun shining on the damp ground, have 
warmed it ; the myriad forms of growing root, stem, 
and leaf feel the warmth, and are already stretchmg 
themselves, preparatory to getting up. Mary W. Allen. 

14. He may study law, or medicine, or divinity, or 
may enter into business. 



No. II and No. 12 would be classed together gram- 
matically, because both are made up of independent 
clauses. From the thought standpoint they are 
decidedly different. No. 12 contains two clauses that 
are entirely independent of each other in thought. 
No. II contains two clauses which, although inde- 
pendently constructed, are closely related to each 
other through the contrast purposely arranged. Read 
No. 12, placing the emphasis as you do in No. 11, and 
this will be better appreciated. 

Compare Nos. 12 and 10. — No. 12 tells something 
concerning each of two subjects; No. 10 concermng 
but one subject. Read the tv^ sentences with the 
difference in mind. No 12 tells us but one thing con- 
cerning each subject. No. 10 tells us four things con- 
cerning one subject. Read with this diflFerence in mmd. 

13. Determine the portions connected by each and. 

14. Among how many caUings has he a choice ? 



62 TEACHING TO READ 

15. The sky, or firmament, is above us. 

16. Education gives power; hence it is a blessing or 
a curse, according to how we use it. 

17. O ! many a shaft at random sent 
Finds mark the archer httle meant ! 
And many a word at random spoken 

May soothe or wound a heart that's broken ! 

The Lord of the Isles. Canto Fifth — Sir Walter Scott. ^ 



15. An alternative in names. 

16. How does Education give power? Meaning of 
hence ? 

Note the strong contrast between the ideas pinned 
together by or. 

What is the use in the sentence of according to how 
we use it? Ans. It gives the condition. 

State some of the ways in which education may be 
used to become a blessing; a curse. 

17. What does and connect ? Ans. Not many a 
shaft and many a word, nor any word or group of words 
short of the complete thoughts : 

Many a shaft at random sent 
Finds mark the archer Httle meant! 

and^ 
Many a word at random spoken 
May soothe or wound a heart that's broken! 

Between which two ideas in the second sentence is a 
choice allowed ? 

What Finds mark? What May soothe or wound? 
Preserve the balance, but phrase correctly. 



STUDIES IN CONNECTIVES 63 

18. Pleasures are like poppies spread, 
You seize the flow'r, its bloom is shed ; 
Or like the snow-falls in the river, 
A moment white — then melts for ever ; 
s Or like the borealis race, 
That flit ere you can point their place ; 
Or like the rainbow's lovely form ' 

Evanishing amid the storm. 

Tarn O'Shanter — Robert Burns. 



18. A choice among comparisons. 

To how many and what things are pleasures com- 
pared ? Ans. Four: spread poppies (not poppies), 
snow-falls in the river (not snow-falls), borealis race (not 
borealis), and rainbow's lovely form evanishing amid 
the storm (not the rainbow). 

What relation does the second line bear to the first .? 
Ans. It explains the comparison with poppies spread. 

What relation does line 4 bear to line 3 ? 

What relation does line 6 bear to line 5 .? Ans. It 
describes the borealis race. 

Trace the semicolons. Why do you think a dash 
was used in line 4, and a comma in lines 2 and 5 ? 

Explain poppies spread, borealis race, evanishing amid 
the storm. 

Memorize. 

Robert Burns gives us an entertaining description of his 
first inspiration to write poetry. It was their country custom 
to have men and women work together in the labors of the 
harvest. In his fifteenth year his partner was a " bonnie, 
sweet, sonsie lass," a year younger than himself, who num- 
bered sweet singing among her love-inspiring qualities. She 
sang herself into the heart of the overworked, stoop 



64 



TEACHING TO READ 



19. ^ It is excellent discipline for an author to feel 
that he must say all he has to say in the fewest possible 
words, or his reader is sure to skip them ; and in the 
plainest possible words, or his reader will certainly 
misunderstand them. ^ Generally, also, a downright 
fact may be told in a plain way ; and we want down- 
right facts at the present more than anything else. 

John Ruskin. 



shouldered country lad, and she sang inspiration and ambition 
into his head. " I was not so presumptuous," he writes, " as 
to imagine I could make verses like printed ones, composed by 
men who read Greek and Latin ; but my girl sung a song which 
was said to be composed by a country laird's son, on one of 
his father's maids, with whom he was in love ; and I saw no rea- 
son why I need not rhyme as well as he ; for excepting that he 
could shear sheep and cast peats, he had no more scholar craft 
than myself." Thus encouraged, he composed his first song, 
" Handsome Nell," of which the following is the fifth stanza : 

She dresses aye sae clean and neat, 

Baith decent and genteel; 
And then there's something in her gait 

Gars ony dress look week 



19. Sentence i. 

It is excellent disci- 
pline for an author to 
feel that he must say 
all he has to say 



in the fewest 
possible words 

in the plainest 
possible words 



or 



and 



or 



his reader is sure 
to skip them ; 

his reader will 
certainly misun- 
derstand them. 



Sentence 2. What is the use o^ and? Ans. It Hnks 
the second thought to the first, and indicates to the 
reader the equal rank of the part to come with the part 
that he has just read. 



STUDIES IN CONNECTIVES 65 

20. Trouble knocked at the door, but, hearing a 
laugh within, hurried away. 

21. God sends every bird its food, but he does not 

throw it into the nest. Charles Spurgeon. 

22. I know that I have the body of a weak and feeble 
woman ; but I have the heart of a king, and of a King 

of England, too. Queen Elizabeth. 

23. Not only is he idle who does nothing, but he is 
idle who might be better employed. Socrates. 

24. Light lay the earth on Willy's breast. 

His chicken heart so tender; 
But build a castle on his head. 
His skull will prop it under. 

On a Noted Coxcomb — Robert Burns. (Complete.) 



Study the thought value of may, line 6. 
20-22. Opposed ideas. 

20. Opposition between what Trouble did, and what 
Trouble intended to do. 

Try to catch the spirit of the quotation. 

21. Paraphrase. 

22. Which idea in the second portion balances body 
in the first ^ What balances a weak and feeble woman? 

23. Observe the force of the form no^ on/y . . . but. 
Omit not only and read and in place of but. 

Of whom are we reading in the first half.^ In the 
second .^ 

24. What is a coxcomb? A chicken heart? 

What idea to be inferred from building a castle 



66 TEACHING TO READ 

25. The sea licks your feet, its huge flanks purr very 
pleasantly for you; but it will crack your bones and eat 
you for all that. Oliver Wendell Holmes. 

26. You shall hear how Hiawatha 
Prayed and fasted in the forest, 
Not for greater skill in hunting, 
Not for greater craft in fishing, 
Not for triumphs in the battle. 
And renown among the warriors, 
But for profit of the people, 
For advantage of the nations. 

The Song of Hiawatha — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 

27. Man proposes but God disposes. Thomas a Kempis. 



balances the idea in Light lay the earth? Ans. The 
difference in weight. 

What relation does the second line bear to the first ? 
The fourth to the third ? 

It is said that though several places claim the honor of 
Burns' birth or residence, none of them have contested the 
honor of producing the person on whom these lines were 
written. Why "^ 

25. Watch the phrasing. And connects crack your 
hones and eat you: for all that belongs with both. 

To what does that refer .? 

26. What opinion would you form of Hiawatha from 
these lines .^ Observe that he desired public benefit, 
not private good. 

27. Compare with No. 11. The sentence is some- 
times printed with a semicolon after Man proposes. 



STUDIES IN CONNECTIVES 6^ 

28. He that does good, having the unHmited power 
to do evil, deserves praise not only for the good which 
he performs, but for the evil which he forbears. 

Ivanhoe — Sir Walter Scott. 

29. A soft answer turneth away wrath : but grievous 
words stir up anger. 

The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright : but 
the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness. 

A wholesome tongue is a tree of life : but perverseness 
therein is a breach in the spirit. 

A fool despiseth his father's instruction : but he that 
regardeth reproof is prudent. 

In the house of the righteous is much treasure : 
but in the revenues of the wicked is trouble. 

The lips of the wise disperse knowledge : but the 
heart of the foolish doeth not so. 

The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the 



Does the semicolon alter the thought .f* Should it 
change the manner of reading .? 

28. Deserves praise for how many things ^ Observe 
the contrasting balance in the opposed parts, — good, 
evil; performs, forbears. 

To appreciate the force of the construction not only 
and hut, test the use of and instead : 

He that does good, having the unlimited power to do evil, 
deserves praise for the good which he performs and for the 
evil which he forbears. 

The performance of good is likely to be noticed and 
praised ; temptations to do otherwise may not even 
be known. 

29. The presence of and in the last proverb of the 



68 TEACHING TO READ 

Lord : but he loveth him that followeth after righteous- 
ness. 

Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the 
way : and he that hateth reproof shall die. 

Proverbs 1$: i, 2, 4~y, lo. 

30. Other things may be seized by might or pur- 
chased with money, but knowledge is gained only by 
study. 

31. One may live as a conqueror, a king, or a magis- 
trate ; but he must die as a man. Daniel Webster. 

series comes unexpectedly, and affords a nice illustra- 
tion of the use of the two connectives and the useful- 
ness of understanding them. When the parts of a long 
series look alike, and eight out of nine of them have 
been found to be alike, a reader may be inferring that 
the ninth is also. He reaches the little and, and it says, 
" Look out ! It is not an opposed thought that comes 
after me." 

30. Or and hut. In the two-part arrangement of 
the sentence, which word in the second part balances 

other things in the first .^ Ans. Knowledge. Which 
ideas balance only hy study? Ans. Seized hy might or 
purchased with money. 

Try to realize, as you are phrasing, that one idea 
balances a choice of two. 

31. One idea balancing three. Compare with No. 
14 and note the easy growth. 

What balances live? Ans. Die. What balances a 
conqueror, a king, or a magistrate? Ans. A man. 
Meaning and use of as? 



STUDIES IN CONNECTIVES 69 

32. He was never a man to flinch in a scrape, but 
to dash through thick and thin, trusting by hook or by 
crook, to make all things straight in the end. 

Washington Irving. 

33. To tell a falsehood is like the cut of a saber; 
for though the wound may heal, the scar of it will 
remain. Muslih-ud-Sadi. 

34. And out again I curve and flow 

To join the brimming river. 
For men may come and men may go, 
But I go on forever. 

The Brook — Alfred Tennyson. 

32. Note the oppositeness of the thought following 
hut, the simple connection by and, the choice off"ered by 
or, and question the importance of the individual words 

in the expressions JA^V^ and thin and hy hook or by crook. 

By hook or by crook, a phrase deriving its origin from the 
custom of certain manors whose tenants are authorized to 
take firebot by hook or by crook; that is, so much of the under- 
wood as may be cut with a crook and so much of loose timber 
as may be collected from the boughs by means of a hook. 

Familiar Quotations — John Bartlett. 

33. What is the message o^ for? 



-e 



34. And out again I curve | and flow 
To join the brimming river. 

While / both curve and flow, curve is more closely 
connected with what precedes it, and flow with what 
follows it. And connects not the two verbs, but the 
thoughts of the two portions. 

What is the new thought in the second half of Hne 3 I 



JO TEACHING TO READ 

35. The brave man is not he who feels no fear, 
For that were stupid and irrational ; 

But he whose noble soul its fears subdues, 

And bravelydares the danger nature shrinks from. 

Basil — Joanna Baillie. 

36. Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and 
doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which 
built his house upon a rock : 

And the rain descended, and the floods came, and 
the winds blew, and beat upon that house ; and it fell 
not : for it was founded upon a rock. 

And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, 

Try to realize the meaning of go on forever. Con- 
trast it with the portion preceding hut. 

Which word in the last line balances men . . . men 
in line 3 .? 

Can you show how the thought following for is an ex- 
planation or reason ? Read, For, although men may, etc. 

35. For; and; hut. Correctly vAnt feels (line i). 
How many things does the soul do .^ 

Irrational, void of reason. 

36. Study not only the thought but the punctuation. 
Notice the period after verse 2 and the colons after 
verses i and 3. Compare the parts in the corresponding 
verses separated by commas, semicolons, and colons, 
and note that 3 balances i, and 4 balances 2. 

Note the semicolon instead of a comma after house, 
in verse 2. It fell not is not a part of the series; it is 
the result of the conditions named in the series (to- 
gether with its being founded upon a rock). Compare 
the parallel portion in verse 4. 



STUDIES IN CONNECTIVES 71 

and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish 
man, which built his house upon the sand : 

And the rain descended, and the floods came, and 
the winds blew, and beat upon that house ; and it fell : 
and great was the fall of it. Matthew 7: 24-27. 

37. Both friends and foe applauded. 

Study the colon in verse 2. What does it mean } 
Ans. It means that what goes before and what comes 
after are almost separate sentences. Are they ? In 
what way are they separate ? Ans. What goes before 
deals with the destruction of the house ; what comes 
after is a remark upon it. Modern punctuation would 
employ a comma. Would it influence the reading ? 
Why } Would the use of a period after verses i and 3 
influence the reading .? 

What do the commas after mine in verses i and 3 
tell us ? Ans. That special attention is to be given 
to the thoughts separately. 

What heat upon that house (verses 2, 4) } Phrase 
accordingly. 

Passages constructed like these are very common in 
Scripture. They are also common in modern writing, 
although not always so simply expressed or so exactly 
balanced. 

As an exercise in tracing parallel parts, the teacher 
may read portions from the first and second half, 
having the pupils " balance " the parts. 

37-40. What eff*ect is gained by the use of connectives 
in pairs .? Test by omitting the first connective in 
each exercise. 



72 TEACHING TO READ 

38. Both the time and the occasion were poorly 

suited to the venture. 

* 

39. He is either fooHsh or insane. 

40. A man must be one of two things, either a reed 
shaken by the wind, or a wind to shake the reed. 

41. He was neither angry nor impatient. 

42. The stranger neither spoke nor read EngHsh. 

43. For Romans in Rome's quarrel 

Spared neither land nor gold, 
Nor son nor wife, nor limb nor life, 
In the brave days of old. 

Horatius — Thomas Babington Macaulay. 



Observe the increased uniting effect of both, and the 
disjoining effect of either. Note also that either limits 
you to a choice. 

Paraphrase No. 40. 

41. Neither. . .nor. Compare their negative char- 
acter with either . . . or. Try omitting neither. 

42. This is more difficult than No. 41 because of the 
additional step ; it must be read so that English will 
plainly belong to both spoke and read. 

43. Of whom is the poet writing? Is he speaking 
of the Romans as in peace or in war ? What does he 
say of their conduct ? Ans. That they spared, etc. 

How many things did they not spare ? How are the 
six things arranged } Ans. They are grouped in twos. 



STUDIES IN CONNECTIVES - 73 

44. In whatever form we find water, whether as soHd, 
or Hquid, or gas, it is one of the most beautiful objects 
in nature. In its Hquid state, it is a necessity of hfe. 
Without it, there could be no grass, nor trees, nor fish, 
nor beasts, and in fact neither vegetable nor animal 
life could exist. 

45. If you will be cherished when you be old, be 
courteous when you be young. Euphues — John Lyly. 



Can you see any reason for grouping them thus .^ Is 
there any similarity in the things grouped .^ 

Teachers may need to question more specifically : 
The first group refers to which of their possessions ? 
Ans. Their worldly possessions. The second ? Ans. 
Their loved ones. The third ? Ans. Themselves. — 
In short, they spared nothing. 

How many expressions do we have in the stanza that 
answer the question, *'When.?" Ans. Two, — In the 
hrave days of old and in Rome's quarrel. 

Correct any tendency toward reading land-nor-gold, 
son-nor-wife, limb-nor-life by developing an appreciation 
of the individuality of the words. Land stands for 
what .? Ans. Property of all kinds. Gold stands for 
what.? Ans. Money of any kind. Limb nor life. — 
Which represents the greater sacrifice ? 

44. Study the meaning and use of whether as a 
connective. Its general use is to indicate that what 
follows is an alternative, or an offer of two things, one 
of which must be chosen. It is generally followed by 
or, or by or whether, expressed or inferred. 

45. Understand the meaning and use of if. 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ — 6 



74 . TEACHING TO READ 

46. If one has frequent intercourse with others, 
either in conversation, or in entertainments, or in any 
famihar way of Uving, one must become Hke them, 
or bring them over to his own way. For, if a dead coal 
be apphed to a Uve one, either the first will quench the 
last, or the last will kindle the first. Since, then, the 
danger is so great, caution must be used in entering 
into these familiarities with the vulgar, remembering 
that it is impossible to touch a chimney sweeper with- 
out being soiled with soot. 

47. The banner floated over the castle. 

46. Apply your knowledge concerning if, either . . or, 
or, for. 

For if combines reason and condition. 

What relation does sentence 2 bear to sentence i ? 

Since, seeing that ; because. 

Then, in that case; inconsequence. 

Memorize the selection, testing whether an under- 
standing of the meaning and use of connectives is an 
aid in committing to memory. 

47-50. Studies in prepositions as connectives. 

Modify undue emphasis by developing, first, the 
fact that it requires the complete phrase to express the 
idea; over the castle answers where.; with fury answers 
how ; under his deep brows tells where ; and with a 
crash, how. Second, develop the relative thought 
value of the words in each group. It is important that 
we know the building over which the banner floated, 
but are not banners usually placed above buildings ? 
Develop the idea of fury; link it with savages and 
fought. Deep brows gives us a picture. Eyes are always 



STUDIES IN CONNECTIVES 



75 



48. The savages fought with fury. 

49. His eyes burned Kke coals under his deep brows. 

50. The walls fell with a crash. 

51. He halts and searches with his eyes 

Among the scattered rocks. 

Fidelity — William Wordsworth. 

52. We think with reverence and gratitude of the 
toils and sacrifices of our forefathers. 

under brows ; the relation is unimportant, since it 
could not be otherwise than as expressed. 

It is undue emphasis of prepositions and conjunc- 
tions that causes so much trouble in the teaching of 
" The Song of the Brook," by Alfred Tennyson. 

I chatter over stony ways. 

In little sharps and trebles, 
I bubble into eddying bays, 

I babble on the pebbles. 

51. Ask where he searches before you ask how. 
Then the reasoning will become, — He searches where.? 
How 1 

52. Pupils may be led to see the individual impor- 
tance of the words connected by and through a black- 
board drill. Write the sentence as follows : 

of our fore- 
fathers. 

Cover and sacrifices with a paper, and have the rest 
of the sentence read. What were the toils^ 





reverence 




toils 


We think with 


and 


of the 


and 




gratitude 




sacrifices 



76 ' TEACHING TO READ 

53. The year's at the spring 
And day's at the morn ; 
Morning's at seven ; 

The hillside's dew-pearled ; 
The lark's on the wing ; 
The snail's on the thorn : 
God's in his heaven — 
All's right with the world ! 

Pippa Passes — Robert Browning. 

54. It is a matter of indifference to a fool whether 
you laugh with him or at him ; so that you do but laugh. 

Ten Thousand a Year — Samuel Warren. 



Cover toils and, and have the rest of the sentence 
read. What were the sacrifices? 

Repeat, covering and gratitude. What does it mean 
to think with reverence of the toils, etc. ? 

Repeat, covering reverence and. Why do we think 
with gratitude of their toils, etc. ? 

Not until the four words stand for four distinct ideas, 
and the relationship among them is clear, is a pupil 
ready to read the sentence as a whole. 

53. The song of Pippa, a girl from the silk mills, 
on the morning of her one hohday in the year. 

Explain the meaning of lines i, 2, and 3. 

The years — when ? Ans. At the spring. (Not 
at the fall, the winter, or the summer.) The day s — 
when ? (Not at the noon or the eve.) 

AlV s right with the world I — When ? 

54. The importance of the relation will not be 
questioned. 



STUDIES IN CONNECTIVES ^'j 

55. They are fitted for, and accustomed to, very 
different modes of life. 

56. They lay along the battery's side, 

Below the smoking cannon : 
Brave hearts from Severn and from Clyde, 
And from the banks of Shannon. 

They sang of love, and not of fame ; 

Forgot was Britain's glory : 
Each heart recalled a different name. 

But all sang " Annie Laurie." 

The Song of the Camp — Bayard Taylor. 



55. They are fitted for what ? They are accustomed 
to what .? The thought must be broken at for in such 
a way that the hearer will know that it is left incom- 
plete and will be taken up again ; and it must be 
broken at to and taken up with very \n such a way that 
the hearer not only links the last group with the second, 
but also with the first. If the pupil sees the relation 
of the various parts, he will read it thus, and, corre- 
spondingly, the teacher must judge by the pupil's 
interpretation whether or not he sees the relation. 

The habit of " splitting particles " as illustrated in 
this exercise is not a commendable one, but such sen- 
tences are quite common. 

56. An example of stanzas in which undue emphasis 
of prepositions and conjunctions promotes " singsong." 

Stanza i. Frame your questions to draw attention, 
first, to the grouping, and then, if necessary, to the 
value of certain words in the groups. 



78 TEACHING TO READ 

Soldiers from what places are mentioned as lying 
along the battery's side, Below the smoking cannon? 
Note the connection (and also the separation) of the 
places by and. Do you see any reason why the last 
two should be separated by a comma and the first two 
not ? 

Call attention to the fact that the united patriotism 
of Great Britain is represented by the three rivers : 
England and Wales by the Severn, Scotland by the 
Clyde, and Ireland by the Shannon. Consideration 
of this fact should bring the locations into sufficient 
prominence and correspondingly obscure the less im- 
portant words. 

What figurative term is used to characterize the 
soldiers } Ans. Brave hearts. Lead to an apprecia- 
tion of both words. Why hearts instead of heads, or 
hands ? (It is in the heart that patriotism beats.) 

Those same brave hearts grew very tender as they 
sang of love and " Annie Laurie." We like to feel 
that they were brave as well as loving. 

They — who ? They lay — where .? 

What picture does the first line suggest ? 

What does the smoking cannon tell you .? 

What do you think of the bravery of the men who 
could sing under those conditions .? 

Stanza 2. Forgot was Britain s glory. — It was 
loyalty to Britain's glory that united them as soldiers. 

Contrast in your mind the swelHng enthusiasm of 
patriotic strains and the gentle sentiment of, " And for 
bonnie Annie Laurie I'd lay me down and dee." 

Do not overlook the use of hut, nor fail to draw 
attention to the simple connective use of the ands. 



STUDIES IN CONNECTIVES 



79 



57. As the sun does not wait for prayers and in- 
cantations to be prevailed on to rise, but immediately 
shines forth, and is received with universal salutation, 
so neither do you wait for applause, and shouts, and 
praises, in order to do good, but be a voluntary bene- 
factor, and you will be beloved like the sun. 

Epictetus. 

58. 'Tis hard to say, if greater want of skill 
Appear in writing or in judging ill; 

But of the two, less dang'rous is th' offence 
To tire our patience, than mislead our sense. 
5 Some few in that, but numbers err in this ; 
Ten censure wrong for one who writes amiss. 

Essay on Criticism — Alexander Pope. 



57. Trace the related portions : 



As 

the sun 
does not wait 

for prayers and incanta- 
tions 
to be prevailed on to rise 
but 

immediately shines forth 

and 
is received with univer- 
sal salutation 



so neither 
do you 
wait 
for applause, and shouts, 

and praises 
in order to do good 
but 

be a voluntary benefactor 

and 
you will be beloved like 
the sun 



Neither connects negative ideas. Meaning of so? 
Memorize. 

58. Between what two ideas does or offer a choice ? 
Which of the two tires our patience? How .? 
Which misleads our sense ? How '^. 
To what does that refer (line 5) .^ This? 



8o TEACHING TO READ 

59. THE ADVICE OF POLONIUS TO HIS SON LAERTES, 
WHO IS GOING TO FRANCE 

From Hamlet. Act I. Scene III. 

^ These few precepts in thy memory 

See thou character. ^ Give thy thoughts no tongue, 

Nor any unproportion'd thought his act. 

^ Be thou famihar, but by no means vulgar. 

^ Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, 

Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel ; 

But do not dull thy palm with entertainment 

Of each new-hatch'd, unfledg'd comrade. ^ Beware 

Of entrance to a quarrel, but, being in, 

Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee. 

^ Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice ; 

Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. 

^ Costly thy habit as thy pursue can buy. 

But not express'd in fancy ; rich, not gaudy ; 

For the apparel oft proclaims the man. 

And they in France of the best rank and station 

Are most select and generous, chief in that. 

^ Neither a borrower nor a lender be ; 

For loan oft loses both itself and friend. 

And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. 

^ This above all : to thine own self be true. 

And it must follow, as the night the day. 

Thou canst not then be false to any man. 

William Shakespeare. 



Give the opposed thoughts in full (line 5). 

Is the last Hne a contradiction of the first two .? 

59. A series of maxims that form an excellent illus- 
tration of the use of hut. 

Explain briefly the meaning of each maxim. (If the 
pupils are slow, and it " takes time," there is all the 
more reason for doing the work.) 



STUDIES IN CONNECTIVES 8 1 

Sentence i. See thou character (write; inscribe) — 
where ? What ? 

Sentence 2. What is the first thought ? The second ? 
Express each in your own words. 

Unproportion'd, disorderly; unsuitable. 

Sentence 3. What are the opposed ideas ? 

Vulgar, the extreme of familiar. 

Sentence 4. Why steel? Why hoops .? 

Adoption, admission to a more intimate relation. 

Explain the oppositeness in the thoughts connected 
by hut. The meaning of new-hatch' d, unfledgd comrade. 

What balances new-hatch' d, unfledgd comrade? Ans, 
Them. To whom does them refer .^ 

Do not dull, etc. "Do not make thy palm callous by 
shaking every man by the hand." (Johnson.) 

Sentence 6. Trace the balancing of the parts. 

It shall be thrice better to hear what they say, than to 
speak what thou thinkest. Ewphues. 

Censure, opinion. 

Sentence 7. Expressed in fancy, "marked or singular in 
device " (Moberly) ; in modern slang, " loud." (Rolfe.) 
Generous, liberal. Chief, chiefly ; especially. 

Sentence 8. Neither . . . nor; for; and; and. 

How might loan lose itself? Friend? 

How does borrowing dull the edge of husbandry (thrift ; 
economy) .? 

Sentence 9. What does the author mean by being true 
to thine own self? Notice the possessive. 

Why must the truth of the last line follow? 

Memorize. 



82 TEACHING TO READ 

Reread (if needful), applying your understanding of 
Connectives, the following : 

Chap. I. Nos. 7, 14, 16, 18, 21, 23, 26, 27, 28, 32. 
Chap. II. Nos. 9, 10, 12, 15, 20, 23, 30, 31, 32, 33. 

The ability and the size of the class will determine 
the number of exercises that the teacher will need to use. 
Such reviews are beneficial because they show the pupils 
how each succeeding chapter enables them to see 
plainly things that they had passed over without notic- 
ing before. 

Suggestive Questions for Written Review 

1. Explain the difference in the uses of and, or, and 
hut, as connectives, and illustrate each. 

2. {a) How is and useful in Nos. 5 and 6 .^ 

{h) (No. 8.) Explain the difference between such 
expressions as here and there and shrub and tree. 

3. Between what comparisons does or offer a choice 
in No. 18.? 

4. What choice is given an author in No. 19 ? 

5. What effect is gained by the use of the double 
connective in No. 37 .? In No. 39 ? 

6. Paraphrase No. 40. 

7. State briefly the moral lesson that No. 46 
teaches. 

8. What thoughts does hut place in opposition in 
No. 56 .? In No. 57 ? 

9. (No. 59.) {a) Explain the meaning of unpropor- 
tiond (sentence 2) ; vulgar (3) ; dull thy palm, and 
unfledgd comrade (4) ; censure (6) ; dulls the edge (8). 

{h) Express in your own words the advice concerning 
clothes. 

10. Select, and give the number of the exercise 
that appeals to you most strongly {a) because of its 
truth ; {b) because of its beauty. 



CHAPTER IV 

STUDIES IN THE RELATIVE THOUGHT VALUES 
OF MODIFIED WORDS AND MODIFIERS 

A common fault in reading is failure to show ap- 
preciation of the comparative thought values of modi- 
fied words and modifiers. Given No. 20, one person 
will read, "A little learning;" another will read, "A 
little learning.'' One will read, *'a dangerous thing;" 
another will read, " a dangerous thing.'' It is the excep- 
tional pupil who reads, "A little learning is a dangerous 
thing," recognizing that the introduction of the subject 
lies in the idea learning, but that it is a modified sub- 
ject, — not learning in general, but a little learning, 
and that the idea expressed concerning it Hes in both 
dangerous and thing. 

Chapter IV aims to furnish material suitable for 
practice along this particular Kne, omitting, so far as 
possible, the problems treated in succeeding chapters. 

Pe]?agogical Introduction 

Failure to notice the relative thought values of 
modified words and modifiers contributes generously 
to "singsong," "jingly," and *'choppy" reading of 
poetry. It also affects seriously the reading of prose. 

In taking up this subject, pupils should have a clear 
understanding of the word modify. The teacher of 

83 



84 TEACHING TO READ 

reading should lead them to think of it not as a tech- 
nical grammatical term, but in its literary sense. An 
author changes or modifies his meaning at pleasure by 
prefixing, inserting, or adding words and groups of 
words. So many shades of meaning can be expressed 
thus that the modifying ideas often trail the reader far 
from the simple statement found in the grammatical 
subject and predicate. For example : 

There's A fierce gray bird, with a bending beak. 
With an angry eye, and a startling shriek. 
That nurses her brood where the cliff flowers blow. 
On the precipice top, in perpetual snow. 

We begin the treatment of this subject with adjec- 
tives and nouns, as the simplest illustrations of alter- 
ing the meaning of a word. The alteration may be of 
less importance than the original idea, it may be equally 
important, or it may be more important. Only a 
study of the thought itself can determine which. Opin- 
ions may differ, but every pupil should have an opin- 
ion. It is the office of the teacher to judge, and to 
approve or correct. 

In studying the importance of individual words, the 
teacher must always remember to note whether the 
phrasing is correct, otherwise emphasis may be over- 
done. The thought value of a word is always relative. 
A word may be important, but close to it may be 
another equally or more important. In our study of 
details, we must never forget that they are parts of a 
whole. The parts must be noted and clearly and fully 
appreciated, but the consciousness of the whole struc- 
ture should never be lost. 



THOUGHT VALUES OF MODIFIED WORDS 85 

SELECTIONS AND SUGGESTIVE STUDIES 

1. King Malcolm proved a brave and wise leader 
for his people. 

2. Dr. Rush was a skillful and experienced physician. 

3. To scale the wall was a task of great difficulty. 

4. The landscape was a forest wide and bare. 

5. I fear three newspapers more than a hundred 
thousand bayonets. Napoleon. 

1. King Malcolm proved a leader for his people. 
To the idea of his being a leader^ we have added the 
information that he was a brave leader, and then that 
he was a wise leader. Read, expressing the rich addi- 
tion that each word makes to the description of the 
man. 

2. The professional title of the man prepared us 
somewhat for the last word, and allows the new ideas 
presented in skillful and experienced to stand in greater 
prominence. 

3. The leading word of the modified portion is, no 
doubt, difficulty, but to be modified by such a word 
as great is to be modified importantly. 

4. Inverting the natural order of the modified word 
and modifier tends, to throw both into greater prom- 
inence. 

5-7. Napoleon in expressing his fear of newspapers 
uses bayonets for comparison, and places them in the 
noteworthy relation of three to a hundred thousand. 



86 TEACHING TO READ 

6. There are few voices in the world, but many echoes. 

7. InteUigence and courtesy not always are combined ; 
Often in a wooden house a golden room we find. 

Art and Tact. (Complete.) Henry W. Longfellow. 

8. He is an honest man and an honest writer. 

9. Striking manners are bad manners. 

* Robert Hall. 

Voices and echoes (6) are the leading ideas, but they are 
importantly modified by the presence of few and many. 
The balanced arrangement of the sentence, which 
throws the four words into contrasting pairs, gives 
added individual importance to each. 
Explain the meaning of No. 7. 

8-12. Determine the relative value of the repeated 
words. 

Honest (8) modifies writer as much as it modifies 
man, but in presenting it the second time, we are pre- 
senting an idea already considered and still fresh in 
the mind of the hearer, while writer must be grasped 
as something entirely new. 

No. 9 is the opposite of No. 8. Omitting the re- 
peated word will often make clear the reason for its 
use. Striking manners are had, does not express quite 
the same thought as the original. 

10. A repeated word may retain its prominence. 

11. What are we reading about? Ans. The effect 
of reading, conference, and writing upon a man. 

What is the most noticeable feature in the arrange- 



THOUGHT VALUES OF MODIFIED WORDS 87 

10. The public offices are a public trust. 

DORMAN BrIDGMAN EaTON. 

11. Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready 
man, and writing an exact man. 

Sir Francis Bacon. 

12. Knowledge humbleth the great man, astonisheth 
the common man, and pufFeth up the little man. 

Sir Francis Bacon. 

ment of the sentence .? Ans. The balance maintained 
between the parts of the sentence. This balance 
necessitates the repetition of what word .? Ans. Man. 
What effect is gained by it .^ Suggestive Ans. Clear- 
ness, emphasis, easy comparison, etc. 

Conference, formerly conversation or discourse, in general. 
Ready, not slow or hesitating ; quick in perception. 

12. Compare with No. 11. They appear ahke. — 
Is there a difference .^ Ans. No. 1 1 gives the effect 
of three things upon man; No. 12 tells how one thing 
affects three different kinds of men. The balancing 
of the parts rests upon which words .? Ans. Hum- 
bleth - - astonisheth - - puffeth up ; great - - common 
- - little ; man - - man - - man. 

Why is the word man repeated ? Ans. It could 
not well be avoided. Does it gain any new significance 
the second or third time it is used .? Ans. No. 

Practice articulation exercises for th at both the end 
and the beginning of words ; as, 

length — th — th — th — think 
growth — th — th — th — thin ' 



88 TEACHING TO READ 

13. We have great cities, great manufactures, great 
commerce, great wealth, great luxury and splendor. 

Oration Delivered July ^, 1876 — Richard O'Gorman. 

14. How beautiful the long, mild twilightj which, 
like a silver clasp, unites to-day with yesterday. 

15. Bacon's Essay on Study contains more closely- 
packed thought than any other English composition. 



13. Such frequent repetition, in itself, gives to a 
word a prominence that requires careful handling to 
keep it from obscuring the word that it describes. 
Lead the pupil who reads too fast to grasp, first, the 
largeness of the thought expressed in cities, manu- 
factureSy commerce, wealth, luxury, and splendor, and 
second, the widely different mental pictures that each 
word suggests. 

Be alert for the compounding of luxury and splendor. 

14. How must the general term twilight be limited 
in order to merit the expression, How beautiful? Is 
every twilight so beautiful .? , 

15. Oftentimes the modifying word can hardly be 
separated from the leading word in a group, for very 
often the idea lies in the words combined. In this 
sentence the author is referring to closely-packed thought, 
and the parts contribute about equally to the idea. 

Be alert for the incorrect grouping, more closely- 
packed thought . More does not group with closely or 
closely-packed, it modifies closely-packed thought, and 
the phrasing is more closely-packed thought. 



THOUGHT VALUES OF MODIFIED WORDS 89 

16. Blue wreaths of smoke rise among the trees, 
betraying the half-hidden cottage ; the eye contem- 
plates well-thatched ricks and barns bursting with 
plenty. 

17. Of all the horrid, hideous notes of woe. 
Sadder than owl-songs or the midnight blast. 
Is that portentous phrase, "I told you so." 

Don Juan. Canto XIV — Lord Byron. 



Determine the relations existing among the last 
four words. Do any, other, and English modify com- 
position, or does any refer to other, and other to English, 
and English to composition, or does other refer to Eng- 
lish composition? 

Opinions will diflPer, but be certain that the reader has 
an opinion, and is expressing his own opinion as he 
reads. 

This work is no more technical than that carried on 
in the grammar class, and surely it is quite as important 
that we be able to express the relationships existing in 
a sentence, as it is that we be able to indicate them on 
paper. 

16. The smoke rises in what form \ What color } 
The wreaths of smoke betray the presence of what ^. 

Why might it otherwise not have been noticed .f* 

Which words does and connect \ Through the in- 
sertion and addition of which words does the author 
convey to us the idea of a prosperous farmer .? 

17. Notes of woe may be the leading idea but horrid 
and hideous show the author's disgust in the phrase. 
Songs and blast may be leading words but owl and 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ 7 



90 TEACHING TO READ 

1 8. What cold-blooded cruelty did Nero manifest ! 
what disgusting sensuality ! what black ingratitude ! 
what concentrated selfishness ! what utter disregard of 
his duties, as a monarch and as a man ! 

19. The right honorable gentleman has called me 
"an unimpeached traitor." I ask, why not "traitor," 
unqualified by an}^ epithet ? I will tell him ; it was 
because he dare not ! It was the act of a coward, who 
raises his arm to strike, but has not courage to give the 

^^^^- .Refly to Mr. Corry — Henry Grattan. 

20. A little learning is a dangerous thing ! 

. Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring; 



midnight suggest the sadness of the comparison. 

What is the meaning of portentous? In what way 
is it a portentous phrase? (Pupils can frequently give 
the dictionary meaning of a word when they cannot 
explain its use in the sentence.) 

18. To the strongest kind of leading words, the 
author has added the strongest modifiers that language 
could supply. Notice how such modifiers emphasize 
the meaning rather than limit it. 

19. An illustration of the weakening power that can 
be found among modifiers. Why does he dare say, 
an unimpeached traitor, but not, a traitor? 

20. How may the different parts of the stanza be 
described ? Ans. The first part is the leading state- 
ment ; the second is some advice that it calls forth ; 
the third gives the reason underneath the advice. 



m 



THOUGHT VALUES OF MODIFIED WORDS 91 

There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, 
And drinking largely sobers us again. 

Essay on Criticism — Alexander Pope. 

21. The composition of man is threefold: physical, 
intellectual, and moral. It is the justly proportioned 
composition of these three that constitutes the real 
excellence of perfect manhood. 

The Character of Washington — Zebulon B. Vance. 



Define Pierian (pi e' ri an) ; understand also Muses. 

Where do shallow draughts (drafts) intoxicate the 
brain, and drinking largely sober us again? Ans. There. 
There, — Where .? What intoxicates the brain there? 

What kind of drinking, sobers us again t 

What are shallow draughts of learning ? How do 
they intoxicate? 

Memorize. 

21. Sentence i. How many main divisions are 
indicated by the punctuation.? What relation does 
the second part bear to the first ? 

Define threefold. Explain the use of — fold. 

What is meant by his physical composition ? His 
intellectual? His moral? (Briefly.) 

The question, "Which animal, only, possesses a phys- 
ical, intellectual, and moral composition ?" — wdl call 
attention to man. 

Sentence 2. See that justly modifies proportioned 
and th^it justly proportioned togtthtr modify composition. 

What phase of excellence are we discussing ? Of 
manhood? Meaning o{ justly? 



92 TEACHING TO READ 

22. Oh, a dainty plant is the Ivy green, 
That creepeth o'er ruins old ! 

Of right choice food are his meals I ween, 
In his cell so lone and cold. 
5 The walls must be crumbled, the stone decayed, 
To pleasure his daint}^ whim : 
And the mouldering dust that years have made. 
Is a merry meal for him. 

Creeping where no life is seen, 
lo A rare old plant is the Ivy green. 

The Ivy Green. Pickwick Papers — Charles Dickens. 

23. Viewed with reference to these facts, George 
Washington may be justly considered one of the greatest 
men whom the world has produced. Greater soldiers, 
more intellectual statesmen, and profounder sages have 
doubtless existed in the history of the English race — 

Read the sentence, omitting, in turn, justly pro- 
portioned, real, and perfect. 
Read the sentence complete. 
Read the paragraph complete. 

22. Ivy green; ruins old; cell so lone and cold. — 
Determine whether your pupil's correct emphasis is 
caused by the inversion, by the impulse of the meter, 
or by true appreciation of the thought. 

Right, very; extremely. 

Ween, imagine; suppose; think (very old meaning). 

Explain his cell, and the idea of the food and meals 
in his cell; also mouldering dust. 

What words are omitted from line 5 ? 

23. Weigh carefully the parts of every modified 
expression and do not allow the undervaluation of a 



THOUGHT VALUES OF MODIFIED WORDS 93 

perhaps in our own country — but not one who to 
great excellence in each of these fields has added such 
exalted integrity, such unaffected piety, such unsulhed 
purity of soul, and such wondrous control of his own 
spirit. 7/^^ Character of Washington — Zebvlon B. Vance. 

24. How beautiful this night ! The balmiest sigh 
Which vernal Zephyrs breathe in Evening's ear, 
Were discord to the speaking quietude 

That wraps this moveless scene. 

Queen Mab — Percy Bysshe Shelley. 

25. The melancholy days are come, the saddest of 

the year, 
Of waiUng winds, and naked woods, and meadows 
brown and sere; 



single one : these facts ; justly considered; one of the 
greatest men — greatest men; greater soldiers; more 
intellectual statesmen; profounder sages; have doubt- 
less existed; English race; our own country; great 
excellence; each of these fields — these fields; such 
exalted integrity; such unaffected piety; such unsullied 
purity of soul; such wondrous control of his own spir- 
it — his own spirit. 

24. Be very certain that the ideas suggested in these 
modified forms are clearly understood: sigh — balm- 
iest sigh; Zephyrs — vernal Zephyrs; Evenings ear; 
quietude — speaking quietude; moveless scene. 

Discord, absence of unity or harmony. 

Have you ever felt a night Uke this ? 

25. A selection in which failure to recognize the 



94 TEACHING TO READ 

Heaped in the hollows of the grove, the autumn 

leaves lie dead ; 
They rustle to the eddying gust, and to the 

rabbit's tread ; 
The robin and the wren are flown, and from the 

shrubs the jay, 
And from the wood-top calls the crow through all 

the gloomy day. 

The Death of the Flowers — William Cullen Bryant. 

26. ^ The intruder was an old man with a flowing 
white beard. ^ The three wallets slung across his 
shoulders, his large slouch hat, and tall staff" marked 



value of modified words and modifiers will cause 
"singsong." 

Observe the grouping in lines i and 2. First we have a 
statement ; then we have a modifying group of words 
{The saddest what .^) ; then we have three modifying 
groups, pinned together (and kept apart) by and, — 
wailing winds, naked woods, brown and sere meadows, — 
each made up of two or more ideas. Brown and sere 
should not be compounded. 

Sere; sear, dry; withered. 

Heaped — where .? What are the hollows? 
They rustle to what .? What is an eddying gust ? 

The wren nests about houses, walls, etc., throughout the 
United States, migrating south in the winter. 

Where was tht jay? The crow? 

26. Sentence i. A heard; a white heard; a flowing 
white heard. 



THOUGHT VALUES OF MODIFIED WORDS 95 

him a beggar by profession, while his long blue gown 
and the pewter badge on his right arm, told that he 
belonged to that privileged class called the King's 
Bedesmen, or Blue-gowns. ^ On the King's birthday, 
every Blue-gown received a new gown and as many 
shilKngs as the King was years old. ^ The life of a 
Scotch beggar in the eighteenth century was really a 
romantic one ; and if he chanced to be a Blue-gown, 
he belonged to the aristocracy of his order, and was a 
person of great importance. ^ He had the privilege 
of asking alms through all Scotland, every law against 
mendicity being suspended in his favor. 

The Antiquary — Sir Walter Scott. (Adapted.) 



Sentence 2. While, (conjunction) at the same time that. 

How many things marked him a beggar by 'pro- 
fession? 

How must the idea of wallets be modified to indicate 
a beggar by profession? The idea of his hat? Of 
his staff? 

Read, in a manner that will call attention to every 
one of these necessary details. 

How many things told that he belonged to the King's 
Bedesmen .^ 

Bedesmen, licensed beggars in Scotland. 

How must the idea of his gown be modified to in- 
dicate one of the King's Bedesmen } The idea of a 
badge ? 

Sentence 4. Why do you think the author inserted 
really? (This question calls attention to the signifi- 
cance of romantic.) 

Romantic, suited to romance; suggestive of adventure. 



96 TEACHING TO READ 

27. THE SPACIOUS FIRMAMENT 

The spacious firmament on high, 

With all the blue ethereal sky, 

And spangled heavens, a shining frame, 

Their great Original proclaim. 

The unwearied sun, from day to day, 

Does his Creator's power display. 

And publishes to every land 

The work of an Almighty hand. 

Soon as the evening shades prevail. 
The Moon takes up the wondrous tale. 
And nightly to the listening earth. 
Repeats the story of her birth : 
Whilst all the stars that round her burn, 
And all the planets in their turn. 
Confirm the tidings as they roll 
And spread the truth from pole to pole. 

What though, in solemn silence, all 
Move round the dark terrestrial ball ? 
What though no real voice nor sound 
Amid these radiant orbs be found ? 
In Reason's ear they all rejoice. 
And utter forth a glorious voice, 
Forever singing as they shine, 
**The Hand that made us is divine." 

Joseph Addison. 

27. Firmament. The Hebrew word denotes an " expanse " 
and was in Scripture applied to the great arch or expanse 
over our heads in which the clouds and stars appear. 

" The earth was regarded (by the ancient Hebrews) as a flat 
surface, bounded upon all sides by the watery deep. Above, 
the heavens formed a hollow vault. . . . This vault was 
thought to be solid and was spoken of as a. firmament," {Webs.) 



THOUGHT VALUES OF MODIFIED WORDS 97 

Stanza i. Firmament, sky, and heavens are used in- 
terchangeably but the Dictionary also defines each in a 
way that corresponds with the poet's use. 

Sky, the upper atmosphere ; the apparent arch, or vault, 
of heaven, which on a clear day is of a blue color. 

Heavens, the place where the sun, moon, and stars appear. 

Spacious, vast in extent. 

Ethereal (ethe're^l), formed of ether; containing or filled 
with ether. 

Spangled, adorned with things sparkling and brilliant. 

Frame, anything composed of parts fitted or united 
together; especially the constructional system, whether of 
timber or metal, that gives to a building, vessel, etc., its 
model and strength. {Webster.) 

Original, originator ; the one who caused them to be. 

Stanza 2. Prevail, gain or hold superior power. 

V^h^t tale? 

What is the story of her birth? Who only hears it ^ 

What tidings? What truth? 

Stanza 3. What though. — Note how largely, in this 
stanza, correct expression depends upon an understand- 
ing of these words. 

What though, what does it matter that; suppose it be 
true that. 

Name the things included in all. 

Terrestrial, earthly; the opposite of celestial (heavenly). 

Orbs, celestial bodies. 

Radiant, beaming with brightness ; emitting light. 

How do they speak in Reason s ear? 
What contrast do you see in stanza 3 \ 
Can you suggest another title for the poem .? 



98 TEACHING TO READ 

28. DESTRUCTION OF POMPEII 
From The Last Days of Pompeii. 

The cloud, which had scattered so deep a murkiness 
over the day, had now settled into a solid and impene- 
trable mass. It resembled less even the thickest 
gloom of a night in the open air than the close and 
5 bhnd darkness of some narrow room. But in pro- 
portion as the blackness gathered, did the Hghtnings 
around Vesuvius increase in their vivid and scorching 
glare. 

Nor was their horrible beauty confined to the usual 

10 hues of fire ; no rainbow ever rivalled their varying 
and prodigal dyes. Now brightly blue as the most 
azure depth of a southern sky ; — now of a Hvid and 
snake-like green, darting restlessly to and fro as the 
folds of an enormous serpent ; — now of a lurid and in- 

15 tolerable crimson, gushing forth through the columns 
of smoke, far and wide, and lighting up the whole city 
from arch to arch, — then suddenly dying into a sickly 
paleness, like the ghost of their own Hfe ! 

In the pauses of the showers, you heard the rum- 

20 bhng of the earth beneath, and the groaning waves t)f 
the tortured sea ; or, lower still and audible but to the 
watch of intensest fear, the grinding and hissing mur- 
mur of the escaping gases through the chasms of the 
distant mountains. 

25 Sometimes the cloud appeared to break from its 
solid mass, and, by the lightning, to assume quaint 
and vast mimicries of human or of monster shapes, 
striding across the gloom, hurtHng one upon the other, 
and vanishing swiftly into the turbulent abyss of 

30 shade ; so that, to the eyes and fancies of the affrighted 
wanderers, the unsubstantial vapors were as the 
bodily forms of gigantic foes, — the agents of terror 
and of death. 

The ashes in many places were already knee-deep ; 

35 and the boihng showers which came from the steaming 



THOUGHT VALUES OF MODIFIED WORDS 99 

breath of the volcano forced their way into the houses, 
bearing with them a strong and suffocating vapor. 
In some places, immense fragments of rock, hurled 
upon the house roofs, bore down along the streets 

40 masses of confused ruin, which yet more and more, 
with every hour, obstructed the way ; and, as the day 
advanced, the motion of the earth was more sensibly 
felt, — the footing seemed to slide and creep, — nor 
could chariot or litter be kept steady, even on the 

45 most level ground. 

Sometimes, the huger stones striking against each 
other as they fell, broke into countless fragments, 
emitting sparks of fire, which caught whatever was 
combustible within their reach ; and along the plains 

50 beyond the city the darkness was now terribly re- 
lieved ; for several houses, and even vineyards, had 
been set on flames ; and at various intervals the fires 
rose sullenly and fiercely against the solid gloom. 
To add to this partial rehef of the darkness, the 

55 citizens had, here and there, in the more pubUc places, 
such as the porticoes of temples and the entrances to 
the forum, endeavored to place rows of torches ; but 
these rarely continued long; the showers and the 
winds extinguished them, and the sudden darkness 

60 into which their sudden birth was converted had 

something in it doubly terrible and doubly impressive 

on the impotence of human hopes, the lesson of despair. 

Frequently, by the momentary Hght of these 

torches, parties of fugitives encountered each other, 

65 some hurrying toward the sea, others flying from the 
sea back to the land ; for the ocean had retreated 
rapidly from the shore ; — an utter darkness lay over 
it, and, upon its groaning and tossing waves, the storm 
of cinders and rocks fell without the protection which 

70 the streets and roofs afforded to the land. 

Wild — haggard — ghastly with supernatural fears, 
these groups encountered each other, but without the 
leisure to speak, to consult, to advise ; for the showers 



lOO TEACHING TO READ 

fell now frequently, though not continuously, extin- 
75 guishing the lights, which showed to each band the 

death-like faces of the other, and hurrying all to seek 

refuge beneath the nearest shelter. 

The whole elements of civilization were broken up. 

Ever and anon, by the flickering lights, you saw the 
80 thief hastening by the most solemn authorities of 

the law, laden with, and fearfully chuckling over, the 

produce of his sudden gains. If, in the darkness, wife 

was separated from husband, or parent from child, 

vain was the hope of reunion. Each hurried blindly 
85 and confusedly on. Nothing in all the various and 

complicated machinery of social life was left save the 

primal law of self-preservation ! 

Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton. 

28. Pompeii, an ancient city of southern Italy, twelve 
miles from Naples. It was overwhelmed and completely 
destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius, a.d. 79. 

What is the difference in the meaning of: 

solid and impenetrahle ^ strong and suffocating ^ 

vivid and scorching ^ sullenly and fiercely ^^ 

varying and prodigal '^^ terrible and impressive ^^ 

livid and snake-like ^^ groaning and tossing ^^ 

lurid and intolerable ^^ wild — haggard — ghastly ^^ 

grinding and hissing ^^ frequently and continuously ^^ 

quaint and vast ^^ blindly and confusedly ^^ 

human or monster ^^ various and complicated ^^ 

The above list is an excellent illustration of the value 
of modifying words. Note how importantly each word 
contributes to the thought. 

(See appended glossary for the meaning of all unusual 
words.) 



THOUGHT VALUES OF MODIFIED WORDS lOI 

One of the objects of the reading class is to increase 
the pupil's vocabulary. An increased vocabulary 
should be a working vocabulary. Too often it is only 
a pronouncing one. 

Too much attention is given to the meaning of ex- 
pressions, and too httle to the meaning of single words. 
Some expressions may properly be studied as wholes. 
Of such are the following : 

in proportion ^ at intervals ^^ ever and anon '» 

They are recognized "expressions," and the dictionary 
treats them as such. The tortured sea (hne 21) is an 
example of figurative expressions, and its significance 
must be gleaned through the imagination and the mean- 
ing of tortured. Many expressions that appear to be 
figurative will be found, on consulting a dictionary, to 
be illustrations of literal uses of words. From arch to 
arch (line 17) is an example of expressions that require 
special explanation because they have a special mean- 
ing in the selection. But the meaning of far the larger 
proportion of expressions should be sought first m the 
significant words. 

Lines 25-33. Sometimes the cloud (Which cloud?) 
appeared to break from its solid mass (What did solid 
and impenetrable mass mean in fine 2 ?), and, by the 
lightning (What lightning?), to assume . . . mimicries 
of human or of monster shapes. 

Do not ask, "What are mimicries of human or monster^ 
shapes ? ". The pupil would probably reply, '' Imitations," 
and but a fractional part of the meaning would be grasped. 

Mimicries, ludicrous imitations (ludicrous, comic; spor- 
tive; ridiculous). 



I02 TEACHING TO READ 

Monster, huge ; of enormous or extraordinary size. 

Quaint and vast mimicries : 

Quaint, fanciful ; singular ; curious. 
Vast, boundless ; of great extent. 

Can you imagine quaint and vast mimicries of human 
or of monster shapes in clouds ? 

Do not ask, "What does striding across the gloom 
mean i 

Striding, walking with long and measured steps. 
Gloom, partial or total darkness. 

Expressed in the terms of the definitions, it becomes : 
"walking with long and measured steps across the par- 
tial or total darkness." Observe that while the defi- 
nitions throw light upon the expression, the author 
has chosen the neater way of expressing the thought. 

Can you imagine quaint and vast mimicries of human 
or of monster shapes — striding across the gloom ? If you 
cannot, the author's work, for you, has been in vain. 

Do not ask, "What does hurtling one upon the other 
mean ?" unless you are sure that hurtling (pushing forci- 
bly ; rushing with rapidity and violence) is understood. 

Can you imagine quaint and vast mimicries of human 

or of monster shapes striding across the gloom, and 

hurtling one upon the other? 

Be circumspect in such requirements as, "What is 
meant by turbulent abyss of shade? — Express the mean- 
ing in your own words." It is difficult to express con- 
cisely, in other words, the meaning of many expressions, 
and "talking around them" is not a great help. The 
author has usually used an admirable form, and a 



THOUGHT VALUES OF MODIFIED WORDS 103 

better one than the pupil can invent ; therefore study 
the author's meaning so that his form can be under- 
stood and appreciated. 

The expression, "Explain turbulent abyss of shade,'' 
requires the following analysis : 

Shade, darkness ; obscurity. 

Abyss, any deep, immeasurable space. 

Turbulent, violently agitated. 

A turbulent abyss of shade is, therefore, a violently 
agitated deep, immeasurable space of darkness or 
obscurity. How many pupils would express that "in 
their own words" ? 

To what turbulent abyss of shade does the author 

refer ? 

When the definitions of the words are clear, the 
teacher may read a passage slowly, having the pupils 
fill in the meanings, thus : the turbulent — (violently 
agitated) — abyss — (deep, immeasurable space) — 
of shade — (of darkness or obscurity). 

Now, can you imagine quaint and vast mimicries of 

human or of monster shapes striding across the gloom 

hurtling one upon the other and vanishing swiftly 

into the turbulent abyss of shade ? 

A close study of the Enghsh language is no harder 
for our pupils than the study of foreign languages later 
required of them, and it is a matter for serious con- 
sideration that the average high school graduate's 
working vocabulary is not broader after twelve years' 
study of the English language. 

The study of words is important not only that pupils 
may develop a vocabulary, but that they may be able 



I04 



TEACHING TO READ 



to appreciate the diction of a good author and correctly 
value the limited efforts of a poor one. Not only the 
difficult new words should be defined, but plenty of 
practice should also be given in expressing clearly and 
concisely the meanings of words that are in more 
common use. 

The following word study may be carried on in 
connection with this selection, and the glossary is 
appended for the purpose. 







Page 98. 




murkiness 


hues 




gushing 


chasms 


increase 


rivalled 




pauses 


affrighted 


glare 


azure 




audible 


bodily 


confined 


crimson 




intensest 


gigantic 



Page 99. 

hurled emitting despair protection 

obstructed combustible frequently supernatural 



sensibly 

footing 

chariot 


relieved 

forum 

converted 


momentary encountered 
fugitives leisure • 
retreated consult 


Utter 


impotence 


cinders 



refuge 



Page 100. 
flickering chuckling 



prima 



Explain : 

unsubstantial vapors ^^ partial relief ^^ 
agents of terror ^^ porticoes of temples ^^ 

The manner of conducting the word studies should 
vary from day to day, and definitions should be made 
as interesting as possible. 



THOUGHT VALUES OF MODIFIED WORDS 1 05 

Glossary 
Affrighted, terrified. 
Agents, active powers or causes. 
Audible, capable of being heard. 
Azure,. resembling the color of the clear blue sky ; cloudless. 

Blindly, without reason or understanding. 
Bodily, real ; actual. 

Chariot, in ancient times, a two-wheeled car or vehicle for 
war, racing, state processions, etc. 

Chasm (kaz'm), a deep opening made by. disruption 
(bursting and separating), as a breach in the earth or a rock. 

Chuckling, laughing in a suppressed, broken manner; ex- 
pressing inward triumph, satisfaction, or exultation. 

Cinders, hot coals, or the Kke, without flame. 

Civilization, an advanced state of material and social well- 
being, as applied to human society. 

Combustible, capable of catching fire. 

Complicated, consisting of parts closely combined or as- 
sociated ; complex. 

Confined, restrained within limits ; limited. 

Confusedly, in a disordered, perplexed manner. 

Consult, seek the opinion or advice of; take counsel to- 
gether. 

Continuously, without interruption. 

Converted, changed or altered from one state to another. 

Crimson, a deep red color, tinged with blue. 

Despair, utter hopelessness ; discouragement. 

Element, one of the simplest parts or principles of which 
anything consists, or into which it may be analyzed. 

Emitting, sending forth ; throwing out. 

Encountered, met face to face; met suddenly and 
accidentally. 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ 8 - 



Io6 TEACHING TO READ 

Ever, ever and anon, now and then; indicates indefinite 
repetition or continuation. 

Flickering, wavering or twinkling; wavering unsteadily, 
as a flame in a current of air. 

Foes, enemies. 

Folds, coils, or series of rings (of a serpent). 

Footing, the foundation to stand on. 

Forum {Roman Antiquities), the public or market place 
of a city, which was the center of judicial and other public 
business, and formed a natural place of public assembly. 

Frequently, at short intervals ; often. 

Fugitives, persons fleeing from danger, etc. 

Ghastly, deathlike; pallid. 

Gigantic, immense ; huge ; of extraordinary size. 

Glare, bright, dazzling light. 

Groaning, uttering deep, low-toned, moaning sounds. 

Gushing, rushing or issuing with violence and rapidity. 

Haggard, having the look of one wasted by want, anxiety, 
or suff^ering. 

Hissing, a noise like that made by escaping steam or water 
touched by hot metal. 

Hues, shades of color. 

Hurled, thrown with violence ; driven with great force. 

Impenetrable, incapable of being penetrated or pierced. 

Impotence (im'), weakness; want of strength or power. 

Impressive, having power to aff'ect forcibly or deeply. 

Increase, expand ; swell ; enlarge. 

Intense, extreme in degree. 

Intervals at, from time to time ; now and then. 

Intolerable, not to be endured. 

Leisure, time at one's disposal. 

Litter, a bed or stretcher so arranged with poles at the 



THOUGHT VALUES OF MODIFIED WORDS 107 

sides, that a sick or wounded person may be carried in or on 
it by men or beasts. 

Livid, black and blue ; of a lead color. 

Lurid, ghastly pale; pale yellow. 

Momentary, continuing only a moment. 
Murkiness, darkness ; obscurity ; gloom. 

Obstructed, blocked up ; stopped up or closed, as a passage. 

Partial, not total or entire. 

Pauses, temporary stops. 

Portico, an open space covered by a roof supported on 
columns ; a kind of porch before the entrance of a building 
fronted by columns. 

Primal, first ; original. 

Prodigal, profuse ; very liberal. 

Proportion in, in the degree or measure that; according. 

Protection, shelter. 

Refuge, shelter or protection from danger. 
Relief, the removal, or partial removal, of anything op- 
pressive or burdensome. 

Relieved, set off by contrast. 
Retreated, receded ; withdrawn. 
Rivalled, stood in competition with. 

Scorching, parching or burning the surface. 

Sensibly, capable of being recognized by the senses. 

Suffocating, choking; stifling. 

Sullen, gloomily angry and silent. 

Supernatural, relating to that which is beyond nature. 

Temple, an edifice dedicated to the worship of a deity, and 
in ancient times, usually regarded as a residing place of the 
deity, whose presence was symbolized by a statue, or other 
sacred token. 



I08 TEACHING TO READ 

Terror, violent dread; extreme fear; fear that agitates 
body and mind. 

Tortured, put to torture ; tormented ; distorted. 

Unsubstantial, not real; not solid. 

Vain, useless. 

Vapor, any visible substance floating in the air, and im- 
pairing its transparency. 

Varying, changing; altering. 
Vivid, intense ; bright ; brilliant. 

Reread, applying your understanding of Modified 
Words and Modifiers : 

Chap. I, Nos. 23, 25, 26, 31. 
Chap. II, Nos. 22, 25, 27, 30, 31, 34. 

Suitable questions for a written lesson may be chosen 
from those already asked. 



CHAPTER V 
STUDIES IN SERIES 

The subject of Series is presented not only from the 
viewpoint of construction, from which we see series of 
words, phrases, clauses, short sentences, or paragraphs ; 
but also from the viewpoint of literary application, 
from which we see series of arguments, illustrations, 
comparisons, and other literary forms. 

Beginning with the simplest problems in series, the 
Studies lead by rational progression into long and in- 
volved illustrations, and conclude with titled selections 
suited to the teaching of the subject in hand. 

Pedagogical Introduction 

The aim of this chapter is to familiarize pupils with 
one of the most common forms in composition, and to 
enable them to recognize such a form at sight. The 
reading of short series, and series made up of short, 
regularly formed parts is soon taught, but the reading 
of long and involved series is a more difficult matter. 
Pupils as a rule have not been taught to grasp nor 
trained to hold involved ideas of any length, and much 
careful analytical work and oral practice are needed 
along this line. 

Something more than this, however, is needed. In 
the reading class we are training pupils to be intelligent 
sight readers as well as skillful interpreters of studied 

109 



no TEACHING TO READ 

selections, and this phase of the work requires some 
knowledge of the principles underlying correct expression. 

To teach a principle first, and then to deal with 
thought according to the principle, is a method most 
certainly to be condemned ; but to develop correct 
expression through easy gradations of thought and 
then to take note of the manner in which expression 
has manifested itself, — bringing to bear upon the ex- 
perience any helpful ideas that can be gleaned from 
other minds, — is a reasonable and rational proceeding. 
To do a thing over and over, and never take note of 
how it is done, is a proceeding as much to be condemned 
in the reading class as in any other. We learn to 
**read by reading" somewhat as we learn "to do by 
doing," presupposing in each case that some notice is 
taken of the method of action and its effect. 

The shorter, easier selections are studied first, in 
order that pupils may be led open-eyed into the longer 
and more difficult ones. The "leading" should be 
done in such a way that they will not only be able to 
read long and involved sentences correctly after study, 
but also at sight. 

This latter preparation necessitates, first, such a 
degree of familiarity with sentence forms that, given 
the first part of an ordinary sentence or clause, the 
reader can be reasonably certain of the general character 
of the part or parts to follow ; and, second, such a 
thorough understanding of the inflections naturally used 
under given conditions, that he can apply them promptly 
and correctly according to principle, when it is impos- 
sible for him to wait for the guidance of the thought. 

There are wide differences among pupils as to ability 



STUDIES IN SERIES III 

to express thought or feehng through the voice ; dif- 
ferences due to individual conditions, associations, and 
temperaments. The teacher is obhged to recognize 
these differences. They force themselves upon her 
attention. One pupil has a voice full of music, with 
easy waves and slides, — graceful and refined ; another 
comes with a croak of natural hoarseness, a movement 
unvaryingly stiff and straight, or awkwardly zigzag, or 
monotonous, and the teacher must needs bring to bear 
the best of every possible method in her effort to over- 
come in the shortest possible time the effects of heredity, 
environment, or disposition. 

One wave that needs to be understood and mastered 
for use in long, involved sentences, is the wave that 
may be indicated thus V or V. In general, the rising 
inflection, / or y, denotes incompleteness ; the fall- 
ing, \ or ^, completeness. As long as the voice falls, 
\^, it says to the hearers, *' You may hold this thought 
in mind by itself;" when it rises, it says, "There is 
more to come." Therefore the above compound slide 
speaks two messages to the hearer. The first, W, says, 
"This is all of this part of the thought ; consider it," 
— and the hearer will consider it as long as the inflection 
continues. The moment an upward turn is given \ V> 
no matter how small it may be in proportion to the 
downward one, it says, "There is more to come," and 
the hearer will wait. The downward part will be long 
or short in proportion to the completeness and the 
separate importance of the idea. 

The voices of many pupils are awkward and unused 
to compound waves, and their minds are correspond- 
ingly awkward and unused to continuous thinking. 



112 TEACHING TO READ 

The conversation of pupils is, for the most part, made 
up of short sentences, simple in construction. The 
consequent lack of practice in long sentences that re- 
quire continuous thinking and continuous inflections 
other than the simple rising or falling of the voice, 
partly accounts for the tendency to express thoughts 
as complete before they are completed, and to break 
up long sentences into many disconnected parts. 

Pupils need to be taught to recognize the leading 
forms of sentences in which continuousness of thought 
manifests itself. Through a study of the thought of 
each division of such sentences, and of the relations of 
the various divisions, and through a steadily increasing 
ability to hold more than one thought in the mind at a 
time, they may be led to natural expression. Follow- 
ing this, they may take note of the action of the voice 
under given conditions, and apply the same, according 
to principle, to similar passages in sight reading.* 

* The following simple exercises are beneficial in promoting 
flexibility of voice : 



J J M ^ V ^ w ^ ^ 



The exercises may be practiced with the syllable do first, and 
later, with the vowels in regular order. 

The speaking voice should have an octave range, but the 
voices of pupils should never be forced to a straining point. 

Voices can often be coaxed into an easier upward slide by 
combining singing and speaking, thus : 



:j.n-'^Iujj^ ^^^ 



^ 



w 



'^O^ 



do re mi do do re mi fa sol do do re mi fa sol la te do do 



STUDIES IN SERIES II3 

SELECTIONS AND SUGGESTIVE STUDIES 

1. Corn, wheat, oats, potatoes, hay, tobacco, wool, 
and butter are the principal agricultural productions 
throughout the Central States. 

2. The principal agricultural productions through- 
out the Central States are corn, wheat, oats, potatoes, 
hay, tobacco, wool, and butter. 

3. A deep, intense, ominous silence pervaded the 
dangerous assembly. 

4. Extraordinary energy, skill, and perseverance 
were shown in the work. 

1. An enumeration of unmodified words about which 
the same thing is said. The monotonous length of 
the series will tempt many to vary the truthful rising 
inflection that says : "These words present the parts 
of a whole idea and each stands in exactly the same re- 
lation to something that is to follow." To introduce 
an occasional falling inflection is to deceive your hearers 
into a momentary belief that the series is complete 
when it is not, and to place upon them the necessity of 
"piecing two and two together" as you read further. 

2. Differs from No. i in that the position of the series 
at the end of the sentence causes the concluding word 
of the series to be the completion of the thought, and 
the inflection on it will therefore truthfully be falling 
instead of incomplete as in No. i. 

3. A series of modifiers, each bearing the same re- 
lation to the leading word. 

4. One modifier, bearing the same relation to each 
of a series of words. 



114 TEACHING TO READ 

5. The long voyage, the tedious overland route, and 
the beautiful trip down the Mississippi would form the 
background of her story. 

6. The great burdens he had borne, the terrible 
anxieties and perplexities that had poisoned his life, 
the peaceful scenes he had forever left behind, swept 
across his memory. 

7. The sea carried men, spars, casks, planks, bul- 
warks, heaps of such toys, into the boiling surge. 

8. The whole substance of the winds is drenched 
and bathed and washed and winnowed and sifted 
through and through by this baptism in the sea. 

9. Richelieu exiled the mother, oppressed the wife, 
degraded the brother, and banished the confessor, of 
the king. 



5. A series of subjects, each differently modified. 
Read, first, omitting the modifiers. 

6. No. 5 expressed an idea about a series of modified 
words ; No. 6 expresses an idea about a series of clauses. 

7. A series in which the last unit cHmactically in- 
cludes those that precede it. Each unit of the series 
is equally related to both what goes before and what 
comes after. {The sea carried . . . into the boiling 
surge.) 

8. A series of action words that are related with 
equal importance both to what goes before and what 
comes after. The presence of the connecting word 
lends individual importance to each. 

9. A series of action words, each of which has its 



STUDIES IN SERIES II5 

10. He that loveth a good book will never want a 
faithful friend, a wholesome counselor, a cheerful com- 
panion, an eflFectual comforter. Ig^^ Barrow. 

11. Having decided upon her course of action, she 
chose the articles with feverish haste — dolls, tops, 
wagons, carts, books, balls, marbles, to3^s of every 
description, until she was sure there would be plenty 
and to spare. 

12. The one with yawning made reply : 
"What have we seen ? Not much have I ! 
Trees, meadows, mountains, groves, and streams, 
Blue sky, and clouds, and sunny gleams." 

The other, smiling, said the same ; 
But, with face transfigured and eye of flame : 
"Trees, meadows, mountains, groves, and streams, 
Blue sky and clouds and sunny gleams !" 



own object, and the objects having a common modifier 
{of the king). The coming of the common modifier 
needs to be kept in mind when reading mother, wife, and 
brother, as well as when reading confessor. 

Richelieu (reshelyu')? ^ distinguished French Cardinal 

(1585-1642). 

10. A series of objects, each of which has its own 
modifiers. 

Never want how many things } Read, first, omitting 
the modifiers. Memorize. 

11. Unimportant enumeration of details. 

12. Both unimportant and important enumeration of 
details. The mind's measure of the parts of a series 



Il6 TEACHING TO READ 

13. Whither are the Cherokees to go? What are 
the benefits of the change ? What system has matured 
for their security ? What laws for their government ? 



may be so large that each may momentarily stand alone, 
and a faUing inflection on each be the result. Care- 
lessly the one says : 

"Trees, meadows, mountains, groves, and streams, 
Blue sky, and clouds, and sunny gleams,'' 

while the other, recalHng each beauty with intense 
appreciation, that for a moment shuts out all other 
scenes, employs the falling inflection, showing com- 
pleteness. The hearer, however, is not deceived, for 
the emotional spell holds him, and before it is broken, 
a new idea has taken the place of the old. Thus we 
have : 

"Trees, meadows, mountains, groves, and streams, 
Blue sky and clouds and sunny gleams !" 

Are the parts of any of the preceding series important 
enough to warrant such separation ^ 

13. Even a series of questions may take the falling 
inflection when each question is equivalent to a state- 
ment of an opposite character. 

Read the series of questions first as simple inquiries, 
and then read again with the following interpreta- 
tions : 

Whither are the Cherokees to go ^ (There is no 
place to which they can go.) 

What are the benefits of the change ^ (There are 
no benefits.) 



STUDIES IN SERIES II7 

14. The tourist traveled in Spain, Greece, Egypt, 
and Palestine. 

15. Questions of right and wrong should be settled 
without respect to high or low, male or female, friend 
or foe. 

16. Anarchy and confusion, poverty and distress, 
desolation and ruin are the consequences of civil war. 

17. No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no 
gall, no glory ; no cross, no crown. William Penn. 



What system has matured for their security ^ (No 
system has matured for their security.) 

What laws for their government ? (No laws [have 
matured] for their government.) 

Give each question the force of a convincing con- 
trary statement. 

14. A series of leading words in a phrase. 
Read, expressing the and. What is the effect ^ 

15. A series of contrasting words arranged in pairs. 
Express the meaning of the sentence more briefly. 
Compare with No. 14. Note growth in difl&culty. 

16. A series of pairs of words of similar meaning. 

17. A series of balanced ideas. 

The semicolons indicate how many divisions ? 

How many parts to each division ? Did the author 
use any method in grouping them ^ Note the arrange- 
ment of condition and eff'ect. 

Do you suppose the alliteration was accidental ^ 

Paraphrase. 



Il8 TEACHING TO READ 

1 8. The manufactures of the Central States are 
chiefly agricultural implements, iron castings, steam 
engines, and other machinery ; flour and meal and 
spirituous and malt Hquors ; leather, boots and shoes ; 
and lumber, carriages and wagons. 

19. If we think of glory in the field ; of wisdom in 
the cabinet ; of the purest patriotism ; of morals 
without a stain, the august figure of Washington pre- 
sents itself as the personation of all these ideas. 

20. Without these three things, — the prison, the 
schools, and the hearth, — social order could not be 
maintained a twelvemonth. 

21. The prospect before him is a sad one, — misery, 
pain, and death. 



18. An example of a long series and a forced attempt 
at grouping. 

The sentence is taken from a geography. The 
items are probably grouped to make them easier to 
remember. 

19-21. These exercises illustrate the position that a 
series may occupy. 

19. A conditional series, the leading idea of each part 
being materially modified, and the concluding thought 
of the sentence referring equally to each part. What 
do the semicolons say ? 

20. An inserted appositional series. 

21. A concluding series. 

22. A series of independent clauses. 



STUDIES IN SERIES II9 

22. There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, 
There is a rapture on the lonely shore, 
There is societ}" where none intrudes 

By the deep sea, and music in its roar. 

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage — Lord Byron. 

23. First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts 
of his countrymen, he was second to none in the hum- 
ble and endearing scenes of private life. Pious, just, 
humane, temperate, sincere ; uniform, dignified, and 
commanding, his example was as edif3^ing to all around 
him as were the effects of that example lasting. 

Eulogy on Washington — General Henry Lee, 

24. ^ Every young man is now a sower of seed on 
the field of life. - The bright days of youth are the 



There is (repeated). — How many things .^ Ans. Four : 
pleasure, rapture, society, and music, — Where } 

What apparent contradiction do we have in line 3 ? 

From the beautiful apostrophe to the ocean, which Byron 
viewed from Alb an Mount in Italy. 

23. A series containing repeated words. 

What is the difference between hoing first, and being 
second to none? 

What is the meaning of edifying? Understand the 
use of ^j- . . . as. 

Long series are never monotonous when with each 
succeeding part a new idea is presented. How differ- 
ent is the meaning of dignified from sincere, and of com- 
manding from pious ! 

24. Sentence 3. Do not overlook the force of the 



I20 TEACHING TO READ 

seedtime. ^ Every thought of your intellect, every 
emotion of your heart, every word of your tongue, 
every principle you adopt, every act 3^ou perform, is a 
seed whose good or evil fruit will be the bliss or bane of 
your after life. 

25. Beauty is but a vain and doubtful good ; 
A shining gloss that fadeth suddenly ; 
A flower that dies when first it 'gins to bud ; 
A brittle glass that's broken presently, — 
5 A doubtful good, a gloss, a glass, a flower. 
Lost, faded, broken, dead within the hour. 

The Passionate Pilgrim — William Shakespeare. 



comparison in the singular number {is a seed). 

Memorize. As an aid, note : 

{a) The subject with which each part of the series 
deals (thoughts ; emotions ; words ; principles ; acts), 
and the natural relations expressed {thought, intellect; 
emotion, heart; etc.). 

{h) The ideas between which each or offers a choice. 

25. Compare with sentence 3, No. 24. No. 24 says 
that a number of things are one thing; No. 25 says 
that one thing is a number of things. 

Trace the series in No. 25. What does the comma 
and dash after presently say .^ 

Find the ideas of line 5 in lines 1-4. The ideas of 
line 6 in lines 1-4. 

Trace the related parts in lines 5 and 6. 

Within the hour is a repetition of what ideas in lines 

2-4? 

Do you agree that beauty is a doubtful good? 



STUDIES IN SERIES 121 

26. I say nothing of the notorious profligacy of his 
character; nothing of the reckless extravagance with 
which he wasted an ample fortune ; nothing of the dis- 
gusting intemperance which has sometimes caused 
him to reel in our streets ; — but I aver that he has ex- 
hibited neither probity nor ability in the important 
office which he holds. 

27. I have done my duty; I stand acquitted to my 
conscience and my country ; I have opposed this 
measure throughout ; and I now protest against it, as 
harsh, oppressive, uncalled for, unjust; as establishing 
an infamous precedent, by retaliating crime against 
crime ; as tyrannous, — cruelly and vindictively 
tyrannous. 

Speech on the Irish-Disturbance Bill — Daniel O'Connell. 



26. An emphatic general statement {I aver that he has 
exhibited, etc.) made to balance a series of details in 
which the speaker pretends to suppress what he is at 
the very time mentioning. — / say nothing . . . hut 
I aver. Meaning of <2t'^r.^ 

Determine the relative value of the repeated words ; 
the comparative value of each modifier and modified 
word ; and notice how neither and nor point to probity 
and ability. 

27. A good example of a series of emphatic state- 
ments. 

Trace the semicolons and compare the parts. Are 
there six divisions in the entire thought or four divisions 
with the fourth, in turn, made up of three \ . 

Note the force of the descriptive words. 

Such words as infamous (in'f^ rwus), precedent 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ — 9 



122 



TEACHING TO READ 



28. If we work upon marble, it will perish ; if we 
work upon brass, time will efface it ; if we rear temples, 
they will crumble into dust ; but if we work upon im- 
mortal minds, if we imbue them with right principles, 
with the just fear of God and love of our fellow-men, 
we engrave on those tablets something which will 
brighten to all eternity. d^^^^l Webster. 



(pres^ e dent) , retaliating (retal'i at'mg), cruelly (kroo'el 1), 
vindictively (vin dik'tiv li), and tyrannous {tu'dnus) 
make good exercises in pronunciation and articulation. 
When placing lists upon the blackboard for practice, 
the various forms of the words may be included ; as 
infamize, infamous, infamously, infamousness, infamy, 
infamies. It lends variety and usefulness to the exer- 
cise. Pupils will frequently pronounce one form of a 
word and stumble upon another. Each form may be 
used in a sentence. 

Daniel O'Connell, a famous Irish patriot. 

The Irish-Disturbance Bill was an act introduced in the 
British Parliament for the purpose of securing better order 
in Ireland. 



28. OutHned, the balancing of the parts stands thus : 



If we work upon marble 
if we work upon brass 
if we rear temples 



it will perish 

time will efface it 

they will crumble into dust 



but 



if we work upon immortal minds 

with right prin- 
ciples 
with the just fear 
if we imbue them ■ of God 

and 
[with] love of our 
fellow-men 



we engrave on those tablets some- 
thing which will brighten to all 
eternity 



STUDIES IN SERIES 1 23 

29. Blessings on him who invented sleep, — the 
mantle that covers all human thoughts, the food that 
appeases hunger, the drink that quenches thirst, the 
fire that warms cold, the cold that moderates heat, 
and, lastly, the general coin that purchases all thmgs, 
the balance and weight that equals the shepherd with 
the king, and the simple with the wise. 

Don Quixote — Miguel Cervantes. 

30. 1 Webster could awe a senate; Everett could 
charm a college; Choate could delude a jury; Clay 
could magnetize a senate, and Tom Corwin could hold 



Note not only the series of conditional clauses, but 
also the series of phrases. 
Memorize. 

29. A long appositional series, which is saved from 
monotony by the introduction of lastly and the dual 
character of the last part. Let the teacher read the 
leading ideas, — the mantle, food, drink, fire, cold, coin, 
balance and weight, — and the pupils supply the modify- 
ing ideas. ' 

Note that when the leading idea of the last part is 
doubled {balance and weight), the modifjang idea of 
the clause is also doubled {that equals the shepherd with 
the king, and the siynple with the wise). Note the con- 
trasting words. 

Paraphrase each part of the series. 

30. Containing two series, the second of which is 
dependent upon the first for clearness and force. 

Sentence i. A series of independent clauses, followed 
by one opposed statement. Compare with No. 26. 



124 TEACHING TO READ 

a mob in his right hand ; but no one of these men could 
do more than this one thing. ^ The wonder about 
O'Connell was that he could out-talk Corwin, he could 
charm a college better than Everett, and leave Henry 
Clay himself far behind in magnetizing a senate. 

Oration on O'Connell — Wendell Phillips. 

31. And what is so rare as a day in June ? 
Then, if ever, come perfect days ; 
Then Heaven tries earth if it be in tune, 
And over it softly her warm ear lays. 

5 We may shut our eyes, but we cannot help 
knowing 



What is Mr. Phillips discussing ^ Ans. The superi- 
ority of O'Connell as an orator. Keep that in mind as 
you read : hut no one of these men could do more than 
this one thing. 

Sentence 2. Compare the series with the series in 
sentence i. — Which orators have been omitted .^ 

Trace the related expressions; Appreciate the sig- 
nificance underlying words and expressions ; — for in- 
stance, he could out-talk Corwin; and Corwin could 
hold a moh in his right hand. Why did Wendell 
Phillips use the expression out-talk in this case .^ (Be- 
cause earnest, face-to-face talk is the style of oratory 
best suited to soothing lawless disorder.) 

31. Containing a long series of completing thoughts 
in the form of clauses introduced by that. 

Do not let the similarity in the form of the sixth line 
cause you to infer carelessly that the series begins there. 



STUDIES IN SERIES 



125 



That skies are clear and grass is growing ; 
The breeze comes whispering in our ear 
That dandehons are blossoming near, 
That maize has sprouted, that streams are 
flowing, 
10 That the river is bluer than the sky, 

That the robin is plastering his house hard by. 

The Visio7i of Sir Launfal — James Russell Lowell. 

32. ^ On looking at the matter closely, I perceive 
that most birds, not denominated songsters, have, in 
the spring, some note or sound or call that hints of a 
song, and answers imperfectly the end of beauty and 
art. 2 As a *^ livelier iris changes on the burnished 
dove," and the fancy of the young man turns lightly 
to thoughts of his pretty cousin, so the same renewing 
spirit touches the "silent singers," and they are no 
longer dumb ; faintly they lisp the first syllables of 



The series does not belohg with knowing; it is made up 
of the things that The hreeze comes whispering in our ear. 
Memorize. 

32. Sentence i. Not denominated ^^ songsters J' — We 
all know that the "songsters" have sweeter notes in 
the spring ; but the same idea concerning non-songsters 
is not so generally remarked. 

Sentence 2. '' Livelier iris :" 

In the Spring a fuller crimson comes upon the robin's breast ; 
In the Spring the wanton lapwing gets himself another crest ; 

In the Spring a livelier iris changes on the burnish' d dove ; 
In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of 
love. Locksley Hall — Alfred Tennyson. 

Marvelous tale. — Of love. 



126 TEACHING TO READ 

the marvelous tale. ^ Witness the clear, sweet whistle 
of the gray-crested titmouse, — the soft, nasal piping 
of the nuthatch, — the amorous, vivacious warble of 
the bluebird, — the long, rich note of the meadow 
lark, — the whistle of the quail, — the drumming of 
the partridge, — the animation and loquacity of the 
swallows, and the like. ^ Even the hen has a homely, 
contented carol ; and I credit the owls with a desire 
to fill the night with music. ^ All birds are incipient 
or would-be songsters in the spring. 

Wake-Robin — John Burroughs. 

33. O for boyhood's painless play. 

Sleep that wakes in laughing day. 
Health that mocks the doctor's rules. 
Knowledge never learned of schools, 
5 Of the wild bee's morning chase. 
Of the wild-flower's time and place, 
FHght of fowl and habitude 
Of the tenants of the wood ; 
How the tortoise bears his shell, 



Sentence 3. Notice that the author uses not only a 
comma to separate the parts of his series, but also a 
dash. The double mark says: "You will need more 
than the usual time to consider these illustrations, for 
you see it will take a moment to recall the sounds." 
Try to feel the differences conveyed by such words as 
soft, vivacious, long rich note, whistle, drumming, and 
animation, and try to express the idea when reading. 

Are any of these birds denominated *' songsters" .^ 

Sentence 4. H^ve you ever noticed the homely, con- 
tented carol of the hen .^ 

Do we hear the owls more often in the spring? 



15 



25 



STUDIES IN SERIES 1 27 

How the woodchuck digs his cell, 
And the ground mole sinks his well ; 
How the robni feeds her young, 
How the oriole's nest is hung; 
Where the whitest HUes blow. 
Where the freshest berries grow. 
Where the groundnut trails its vine, 
Where the wood grape's clusters shine ; 
Of the black wasp's cunning way, 
Mason of his walls of clay, 
And the architectural plans 
Of gray hornet artisans ! — 
For, eschewing books and tasks. 
Nature answers all he asks ; 
Hand in hand with her he walks. 
Face to face with her he talks. 
Part and parcel of her joy, — 
Blessings on the barefoot boy ! 

The Barefoot Boy — John Greenleaf Whittier. 



33- for . . . play, sleep, health, knowledge.— k 
series of variously modified words, carr3ang us to line 
9, and including a second series regarding knowledge. 

Of the wild bee's morning chase. 
Of the wild-flower's time and place, 
[Of the] FUght of fowl and [of the] habitude of the 
tenants of the wood. 

Opinions may difFer regarding the grouping of the 
next series, but see to it that each pupil has an opmion. 
One may think that all these hows and wheres are 
further modifjang ideas of knowledge and that 0/ is 
understood. Another may think the series beginning 
with How is explanatory of the habitude of the tenants 
of the wood, and may see in the first four lines beginning 



128 TEACHING TO READ 

34. ^ One may judge of the spirits and disposition 
of a man by his ordinary gait and mien in walking. 
^ He who habitually pursues abstract thought, looks 
down on the ground. ^ He who is accustomed to sud- 
den impulses, looks up with a kind of jerk. ^ He who 
is a steady, cautious, merely practical man, walks on 
deliberately, his eyes straight before him. ^ But the 
man of pushing, lively temperament, who, though 
practical, is yet speculative, walks with a spring, — 
his port has something of defiance — his form is erect, 
but without stiffness. 

My Novel — Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton. 



with Where a series explanatory oj the wild-flower s time 
and place. 

A study of the punctuation shows us that Mr. 
Whittier himself divides the series into groups (note 
semicolons). Study his grouping of the first twenty- 
one lines. Observe how the general subjects of the 
groups differ: lines 9-11, animals; 12, 13, birds; 
14-17, flowers and fruit; 18-21, wasps and hornets. 
This grouping lends variety to thirteen lines which, 
without it, would grow monotonous. 

Explain lines 9, 10, 11, 13, 19, 24. 

Meaning of architectural plans ? Artisans ? Part and 
parcel? 

Eschewing, avoiding as distasteful. 

34. A series of sentences. 

35. As spoken by Jacques, one of the attendants of the 
banished Duke, during the dinner scene in the forest. 

How many parts has the series ? 

Explain the meaning of all unusual expressions. 



STUDIES IN SERIES . I29 

35. THE SEVEN AGES OF MAN 
From As You Like It. Act II. Scene VII. 

^ All the world's a stage, 
And all the men and women merely players ; 
They have their exits and their entrances, 
And one man in his time pla3^s many parts, 

5 His acts being seven ages. ^ At first the infant. 
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms ; 
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel 
And shining morning face, creeping like snail 
Unwillingly to school ; and then the lover, 

10 Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad 
Made to his mistress' eyebrow; then a soldier. 
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard, 
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel. 
Seeking the bubble reputation 

IS Even in the cannon's mouth ; and then the justice, 
In fair round belly with good capon lin'd, 
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut. 
Full of wise saws and modern instances ; 
And so he plays his part. ^ The sixth age shifts 

20 Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon. 
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side. 
His youthful hose well sav'd, a world too wide 
For his shrunk shank ; and his big manly voice, 
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes 

25 And whistles in his sound. ^ Last scene of all, 
That ends this strange eventful history. 
Is second childishness and mere oblivion, 
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans every thing. 

William Shakespeare, 



Sans, without; deprived or destitute of. 
Saws, sayings ; proverbs ; maxims. 



"^j 



130 TEACHING TO READ 

36. THE NATURE OF TRUE ELOQUENCE 

From a Discourse on the Lives and Services of Adams and Jefferson, 
Faneuil Hall, Boston, Aug. 2, 1826. 

^ True eloquence, indeed, does not consist in speech. 
^ It cannot be brought from far. ^ Labor and learning 
may toil for it, but they will toil in vain. ^ Words and 
phrases may be marshalled in every way, but they 
cannot compass it. ^ It must exist in the man, in the 
subject, and in the occasion. ^ AiFected passion, in- 
tense expression, the pomp of declamation, all may 
aspire to it ; they cannot reach it. ^ It comes, if it 
come at all, like the outbreaking of a fountain from 
the earth, or the bursting forth of volcanic fires, with 
spontaneous, original, native force. ^ The graces taught 
in the schools, the costly ornaments and studied con- 
trivances of speech, shock and disgust men, when their 
own lives, and the fate of their wives, their children, 
and their country, hang on the decision of the hour. 
^ Then words have lost their power, rhetoric is vain, 
and all elaborate oratory contemptible. ^^ Even genius 
itself then feels rebuked and subdued, as in the presence 
of higher qualities. ^^ Then patriotism is eloquent ; 
then self-devotion is eloquent. ^^ The clear conception, 
outrunning the deductions of logic, the high purpose, 
the firm resolve, the dauntless spirit, speakmg on the 
tongue, beaming from the eye, informing every feature, 
and urging the whole man onward, right onward to his 
object, — this, this is eloquence ; or rather, it is some- 
thing greater and higher than all eloquence ; — it is 
action, noble, sublime, godlike action. 

Daniel Webster. 



36. Speaking of the great eloquence of John Adams, 
and to justify his praise, Mr. Webster gives his own, 
idea of true eloquence. 



STUDIES IN SERIES I3I 

Make a separate study of each sentence and note 
the wide variety in construction. 

How many pupils will notice that the subject lies 
in both eloquence and true? {True opposed to false.) 
That labor and learning (sentence 3), and words and 
phrases (4) are of equal thought value .^ 

Compare the construction of sentences 3 and 4. 

Sentence 5. A series of modifying phrases. 

Sentence 6. A series of modified words. 

What is meant by affected passion? Intense expres- 
sion? Pomp of declamation? Notice the omission of 
hut. What is gained by it .^ 

Sentence 7. With what does with spontaneous, orig- 
inal, native force belong } 

Sentence 9. A series of independent clauses, having 
what word in common } 

Paraphrase each part. Then. — When .? 

Sentence -io. What is the meaning of genius? 
Paraphrase. 

Sentence ii. Why are patriotism and self-devotion 
eloquent .^ 

If to genius were joined patriotism and self -devotion, 
what would be the effect .^ 

Then. — When ? 

Sentence 12. Trace the first series. Will anyone 
read outrunning the deductions of logic as though it 
were a separate part of the series instead of a modify- 
ing idea of The clear conception? 

Illustrate how one might have a clear conception 
that would outrun the deductions of logic. 

Trace the second series. Does it belong with the 
dauntless spirit or with all the parts of the first series .? 



132 TEACHING TO READ 

37. BEHIND TIME 

A railroad train was rushing along at almost light- 
ning speed. A curve was just ahead, beyond which 
was a station, at which two trains usually met. The 
conductor was late, so late that the period during which 
the up-train was to wait had nearly elapsed ; but he 
hoped yet to pass the curve safely. Suddenly a loco- 
motive dashed into sight right ahead. In an instant 
there was a collision. A shriek, a shock, and fifty 
souls were in eternity ; and all because an engineer 
had been behind time. 

A great battle was going on. Column after column 
had been precipitated, for eight hours, on the enemy 
posted on the ridge of a hill. The summer sun was 
sinking to the west ; reenforcements for the obstinate 
defenders were already in sight. It was necessary to 
carry the position with one final charge, or everything 
would be lost. 

A powerful corps had been summoned from across 
the country, and if it came in season all would yet be 
right. The great conqueror, confident in its arrival, 
formed his reserve into an attacking column, and led 
them down the hill. The world knows the result. 
Grouchy failed to appear ; the Imperial Guard was 
beaten back ; Waterloo was lost ; Napoleon died a 
prisoner at St. Helena, because one of his marshals 
was behind time. * 



What is gained by repeating onward? Why did the 
orator repeat this? 

Trace the parts separated by the semicolon. By the 
semicolon and dash. 

To what does it refer ? This? 

37. A series of illustrations. 



STUDIES IN SERIES I33 

A leading firm in commercial circles had long 
struggled against bankruptcy. As it had large sums 
of money in California, it expected remittances by a 
certain day ; and if the}^ arrived, its credit, its honor, 
and its future prosperity would be preserved. But 
week after week elapsed without bringing the gold. 

At last came the fatal day on which the firm was 
bound to meet bills which had been maturing to enor- 
mous amounts. The steamer was telegraphed at day- 
break ; but it was found, on inquiry, that she brought no 
funds, and the house failed. The next arrival brought 
nearly half a million to the insolvents, but it was too 
late ; they were ruined because their agent, in remitting 
the money, had been behind time. 

A condemned man was led out for execution. He 
had taken human life, but under circumstances of the 
greatest provocation ; and public sympathy was active 
in his behalf. Thousands had signed petitions for a 
reprieve ; a favorable answer had been expected the 
night before, and though it had not come, even the 
sheriff felt confident that it would yet arrive. Thus 
the morning passed without the appearance of the 
messenger. The last moment was up. 

The prisoner took his place on the drop, the cap was 
drawn over his eyes, the bolt was drawn, and a lifeless 
body hung suspended in the air. Just at that moment 
a horseman came into sight, galloping down hill, his 
steed covered with foam. He carried a packet in his 
right hand, which he waved frantically to the crowd. 
He was the express rider with the reprieve ; but he came 
too late. A comparatively innocent man had died an 
ignominious death, because a watch had been five 
minutes too slow, making its bearer arrive behind time. 

It is continually so in life. The best-laid plans, the 
most important affairs, the fortunes of individuals, 
the weal of nations, honor, happiness, life itself, are 
daily sacrificed because somebody is "behind time." 
There are men who always fail in whatever they under- 



134 TEACHING TO READ 

take, simply because the}^ are "behind time." There 
are others who put off reformation year by year, till 
death seizes them, and they perish unrepentant, be- 
cause forever "behind time." 

Five minutes, in a crisis, are worth years. It is 
but a httle period, yet it has often saved a fortune, or 
redeemed a people. If there is one virtue that should 
be cultivated more than another, it is punctuality ; 
if there is one error that should be avoided, it is being 

"behind time." ^ tt 

l^REEMAN Hunt. 

38. THE LANDING OF THE PILGRIMS 

From the Discourse delivered at Plymouth, Dec. 22, 1820, Com- 
memorating the Landing of the Puritans in 1620. 

^ We have come to this Rock, to record here our 
homage for our Pilgrim fathers ; our sympathy in 
their sufferings ; our gratitude for their labors ; our 
admiration of their virtues ; our veneration for their 
piety ; and our attachment to those principles of civil 
and religious liberty, which they encountered the 
dangers of the ocean, the storms of heaven, the violence 
of savages, disease, exile, and famine, to enjoy and to 
establish. ^ And we would leave here, also, for the 
generations which are rising up rapidly to fill our places, 
some proof that we have endeavored to transmit the 
great inheritance unimpaired ; that in our estimate of 
public principles and private virtue, in our veneration 
of religion and piety, in our devotion to civil and re- 
ligious liberty, in our regard for whatever advances 
human knowledge or improves human happiness, we 
are not, altogether unworthy of our origin. 

^ There is a local feeling connected with this occasion 
too strong to be resisted ; a sort of genius of the place, 
which inspires and awes us. ^ We feel that we are on 
the spot where the first scene of our history was laid ; 
where the hearths and altars of New England were 



STUDIES IN SERIES 135 

first placed ; where Christianin', and civilization, and 
letters made their first lodgment, in a vast extent of 
country, covered with a wilderness, and peopled by 
roving barbarians. ^ We are here, at the season of the 
year at which the event took place. ^ The imagination 
irresistibly and rapidly draws around us the principal 
features and the leading characters in the origmal 
scene. '" We cast our eyes abroad on the ocean, and 
we see where the little bark, w4th the interesting group 
upon its deck, made its slow progress to the shore. 
^ We look around us, and behold the hills and prom- 
ontories where the anxious eves of our fathers first 
saw the places of habitation and of rest. "^ We feel 
the cold which benumbed, and Ksten to the winds 
which pierced them.. ^ Beneath us is the Rock, on 
which New England received the feet of the Pilgrims. 
^ We seem even to behold them, as they struggle with 
the elements, and, with toilsome efforts, gain the shore. 
^° We hsten to the chiefs in council ; we see the unex- 
ampled exhibition of female fortitude and resignation ; 
we hear the whisperings of youthful impatience, and 
we see, what a painter of our own has also represented 
by his pencil, chilled and shivering childhood, houseless, 
but for a mother's arms, couchless, but for a mother's 
breast, till our own blood almost freezes. ^^ The mild 
disnitv of Carver and of Bradford ; the decisive and 



38. *^i. Sentence i. This Rock. — Plymouth Rock. 
*^2. Sentence 3. The season of the year. — December. 

Sentence 10. A painter of our ozvn. — *'The Landing 
of the Pilgrims," by Henry Sargent of Boston. It is the 
painting that "represents the principal personages of the 
comipany at the moment of landing, with the Indian Samo- 
set who approaches them with a friendly welcome." 

Sentence II. Carver; Bradford. — Governors. Standish. 
— In charge of military affairs. Brewster. — In charge of 
the church. Allerton. — The business man of the Colony. 



136 TEACHING TO READ 

soldier-like air and manner of Standish ; the devout 
Brewster ; the enterprising Allerton ; the general 
firmness and thoughtfulness of the whole band ; their 
conscious joy for dangers escaped ; their deep solicitude 
about dangers to come ; their trust in Heaven ; their 
high religious faith, full of confidence and anticipation ; 
all of these seem to belong to this place, and to be 
present upon this occasion, to fill us with reverence 
and admiration. Daniel Webster. 

Reread, applying your knowledge regarding Series : 
Chap. I, Nos. 5, 6, 13, 15, 23, 24, 31, 32. 
Chap. II, Nos. 27, 31, 35. 
Chap. Ill, Nos. 5, 6, 14, 18, 26. 
Chap. IV, Nos. 18, 23, 25. 

Suggestive Questions for Written Review 

1. What is a series ^ Quote an example of a series 
of words ; of phrases ; of clauses ; of short sentences. 

2. Quote an example of an introductory series ; a 
concluding series ; an inserted series. 

3. (No. 12.) Explain the difference, from the read- 
ing standpoint, between stanzas i and 2. 

4. (No. 30.) F2.r:2.phr3.st could awe a senate;, charm a 
college; delude a jury; magnetize a senate. 

5. (No. 31.) Quote the series. 

6. (No. 32.) (a) What does the comma and dash 
(sentence 3) say .? (b) Define denominated, livelier 
iris. 

7. (No. 33.) Does the poet use any method of group- 
ing the ideas in the parts of the series in lines 9-21 t 

8. (No. 38.) ^i. Sentence i. Quote the series 
within the series. 

9. (No. 38.) ^i. Sentence 2. We are not altogether 
unworthy of our origin in how many and what things .^ 

10. (No. 38.) ^2. Sentence 11. How many and 
what things " seem to belong to this place " .^ 



CHAPTER VI 
STUDIES IN CONTRAST 

The placing of thoughts of opposite or contrasting 
meaning in juxtaposition is one of the methods em- 
ployed by writers for the enhancing of effects. In its 
most striking form, there is close resemblance between 
the opposed thoughts in both language and construc- 
tion (see No. 23), but many degrees of variation are to 
be found. 

Studies in contrast are, therefore, 'studies of two 
balanced ideas each of which gains prominence by the 
presence of the other. A groat (No. i) is very small 
beside a thousand 'pounds^ and the thousand 'pounds is 
very large beside the groat. Each gains through the 
presence of the other. The presence of both must 
therefore be kept in mind. Hence the instruction be- 
comes. Get Both Thoughts ; Hold Both Thoughts ; 
and Strive to Express the Fullness of Both Thoughts 
in their relation to each other. 

The opposition or contrast may be found in a single 
sentence, or it may form the subject material of many 
sentences or paragraphs. It may require the balanc- 
ing of only two words (3) ; it may balance several sets 
of words (16) ; it may find expression in parts of words 
(19) ; or it may lie between phrases, clauses, sentences, 
groups of sentences, or paragraphs. Authors recognize 
in it the most effective method for stating comparisons 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ lO I37 



138 TEACHING TO READ 

(14) ; it is used widely in drawing parallels between 
persons, characters, or objects that resemble each other 
in reality or appearance (34) ; and much of the wit 
of our literature finds expression after this manner. 
Hence the advisabihty of giving it separate and special 
attention. 

Pedagogical Introduction 

Contrasted thoughts resting upon balanced words 
oftentimes find most effective expression through con- 
trasted. inflections. Nothing is gained by withholding 
this definite information from the pupil, and much may 
be gained by a knowledge of it. The value of con- 
trasted inflections will be readily appreciated in the 
following, particularly if the first illustration be read 
without them, as indicated, and the second, wi^h them. 

As unto the bow the cord is, 
So unto the man is woman ; 
Though she bends him, she obeys him. 
Though she draws him, yet she follows ; 
Useless each without the other. 

As unto the bow the cord is. 
So unto the man is woman ; 
Though she bends him, she obeys him, 
Though she draws him, yet she follows ; 
Useless each without the other. 

Contrasting thoughts do not, however, always ex- 
press themselves through first the rising and then the 
falling inflections. If the first thought is an affirma- 
tive statement and the second a negative statement, 



STUDIES IN CONTRAST 1 39 

the opposite will be the result ; as in the following : 
I said an elder soldier, not a better. 

When reading contrasted descriptions of nature, 
people, places, emotions, scener}^, etc., — particularly 
when they are long and the contrast is not dependent 
upon the balancing of single words, but distributed 
through phrases, sentences, or paragraphs, — it is help- 
ful to know and to remember that bright, cheerful, 
happy thoughts bend the voice upward, while sadness 
and gloom weigh it downward. 

This will readily be appreciated in the picturing of 
the meeting with the old mother, in Riley's ''After- 
whiles" : 

How we'll greet the dear old smile, 
And the warm tears — afterwhile ! 

A rising wave on smile will help us to paint a tender 
gladness that a falling one would kill; while a pre- 
dominating downward movement on warm tears can 
blend with that idea a .loving tone color entirely lack- 
ing when the simple rising inflections are used. Try it 
and see. 

However, to know this avails us little if we are un- 
able to execute it, and a noticeable number of untrained 
pupils are unable to do so. Some are unable even to 
imitate the inflections given by the teacher. Indeed, 
I have found many teachers unable to give contrasting 
inflections without considerable practice ; and an oc- 
casional person who, through defective hearing, could 
not learn to do so with any degree of reliability. 

Some of the simple exercises tending toward voice 



140 TEACHING TO READ 

control will, in general, prove noticeably beneficial.* 
To read as we talk is a rule of small value when 
studying subjects like this. Speech melody is too 
largely influenced by nationality, association, disposi- 
tion, and habits. Even the American child from the 
so-called ''good home" often comes to us full of quick, 
nervous, jerky, rising inflections ; slow, heavy drawls ; 
or aff'ected sHdes, that are the result of a fancied im- 
itation. 

To tell the pupils to read as they talk, and then give 
them material to read, the construction of which is 
widely diff*erent from the construction of their con- 
versation, is to leave an unbridged space between the 
known and the unknown. This subject will be dealt 
with more fully under Studies in Continuous Thinking, 
but it deserves mention here because a large part of 
our contrastive material is the product of careful ar- 
rangement by literary artists, and vastly diff'erent from 
the conversation of boys and girls, both as to quality and 
structure. It deals as a rule with finished periods, and 
the parts are often long and involved. Careful analysis 
of the thought is the only method that will lead to 
complete understanding and intelligent interpretation. 

* Pronounce the syllable do with a simple rising inflection; 
with a falling inflection ; with the circumflex r^-^. 

Pronounce the vowels with simple rising inflections. 
With falling inflections. With the circumflex. 

Pronounce each vowel with first the rising and then the 
falling inflection and then the circumflex. 

Concert work should not include so many pupils that in- 
dividual voices and individual needs cannot be detected. 



STUDIES IN CONTRAST 14I 

SELECTIONS AND SUGGESTIVE STUDIES 

1. Asked for a groat, he gives a thousand pounds. 

2. He spoke for the prisoner, not against him. 

3. I said an elder soldier, not a better. 

Julius Ccesar. Act IF. Scene III — William Shakespeare. 

4. The crime makes the shame, not the scaffold. 

Charlotte Corday. 

5. Then I beUeved you; now I do not. 

6. Good words make friends; bad words make 
enemies. Sir Matthew Hale. 

7. Applause is the spur of noble minds, but the end 
of weak ones. 

8. I had rather be the first man in that little Iberian 
village than the second in Rome. Julius C^sar. 

9. They thought that their exactness in one thing 
would atone for their neghgence in another. 



1-4. Contrasts containing one set of balanced ideas. 
I. Simple contrast between condition and result. 
2-4. Affirmation preceding negation. (Seepage 138.) 
5-15. Each sentence contains two balanced or con- 
trasted ideas. 

^ Then - - now I believed you - - I do not 

^ good words - - bad words friends - - enemies 

spur - - end noble minds - - weak ones 

soiling - - make clean another - - one's self (13) 



142 TEACHING TO READ 

10. It is not the greatness of man's means that makes 
him independent, so much as the smallness of his wants. 

11. Great men begin enterprises, because they think 
them great ; and fools, because they think them easy. 

12. He returned from the university with a store of 
learning that might have puzzled a doctor, and an 
amount of ignorance of which a schoolboy would have 
been ashamed. 

13. Soiling another, Annie, will never make one's self 

Clean. ^r^^ Grandmother — Alfred Tennyson. 

14. But yesterday the word of Caesar might 

Have stood against the world ; now lies he there, 
And none so poor to do him reverence. 

Julius CcBsar. Act III. Scene II — William Shakespeare. 

15. I should infinitely rather feel myself the most 
miserable wretch on the face of the earth, with a God 
above, than the highest type of man standing alone. 

Alfred Tennyson. 

16. He raised a mortal to the skies ; 
She drew an angel down. 

Alexander s Feast — John Dryden. 



14. But, only. Catch the sharp contrast between 
yesterday and 7iow. 

The contrast of conditions between yesterday and 
now is expressed in figurative language. Try to realize 
the strength of the tribute that placed the strength of 
one man's word against the world. 

15. What balances highest type of man? What 
balances with a God above? 



STUDIES IN CONTRAST 1 43 

17. The difference between a madman and a fool is, 
that the former reasons justly from false data; the 
latter, erroneously from just data. 

18. Name to me an animal, though ever so skillful, 
that I cannot imitate. So bragged the Ape to the Fox. 
But the Fox rephed : And do thou name to me an 
animal so humble as to think of imitating thee. 

The Ape and the Fox — Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. 

19. He is no wise man that will quit a certainty for 
an uncertainty. jke Idler — Samuel Johnson. 

20. The sunny morning and the gloomy midnight, 
the bleak winter and the balmy spring, aUke speak to 
us of the Creator's power. 

16. Three sets of opposed or contrasted ideas. 

He raised to the skies a mortal 
She drew down an angel 

17. Three sets, — four, if we include /orm^r and latter. 

madman — fool 
former - - latter 

reasons justly - - from false data 
reasons erroneously - - from just data 

18. Distinguish between the parts balanced by em- 
phasis and those balanced by contrast : 

(You) do thou 

name to me name to me 

an animal though ever so skillful - - an animal so humble 

that I thee 

cannot imitate to thmk of imitatmg 

19. Contrast shown in accent and related word-forms. 

20. Grouping of contrasted parts. 



144 TEACHING TO READ 

21. Rich and poor, high and low, good and bad, gave 
testimony to his worth. 

22. To have and to hold, for better for worse, for 
richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and 
to cherish. 

23. When we are^ death is not; and when death is, we 

are not. Tristram Shandy — Laurence Sterne. 

24. Socrates used to say that other men lived in 
order that they might eat, but that he ate in order that 
he might live. 

25. Swans sing before they die ; 't were no bad thing 
Should certain persons die before they sing. 

26. After I had resided at college seven years, my 
father died and left me — his blessing. 



21. The same, lengthened to series. 

22. Are all of these parts contrastive .? 

23. 24. Striking forms of antithesis, because of the 
close resemblance in both language and structure. 

Resemblance in language and structure frequently 
leads one to infer that there is a contrast when none 
exists ; — for example : 

Nations are proud of their antiquity, and individuals of 
their ancestry. 

25. It is estimated that eight tenths of all the wit, 
ancient and modern, now existing in the world, is 
based on antithesis. 

26. Contrast implied. 



STUDIES IN CONTRAST 1 45 

27. To one who said, **I do not believe there is an 
honest man in the world," another replied, "It is im- 
possible that any one man should . know the whole 
world, but it is quite possible that one may know 
himself." 

28. "Our enemies are before us," exclaimed the 
Spartans at Thermop3dae. "And we are before them," 
was the cool reply of Leonidas. "Deliver your arms," 
came the message from Xerxes. "Come and take 
them," was the answer Leonidas sent back. A Per- 
sian soldier said : "You will not be able to see the sun 
for flj^ing javelins and arrows." "Then we will fight 
in the shade," replied a Lacedaemonian. 

29. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, h3^pocrites ! 
for 3^e are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed 
appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead 
men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also 
outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within 3^e 
are full of h3^pocris3^ and iniquity. 

Matthew 25: 27, 28. 



27, 28. Keen retorts based on antithesis. 
Paraphrase No. 27. 

29. A stern rebuke employing a comparison made up 
of balanced contrasted ideas. 

Meaning of hypocrisy ? Iniquity ? 

whited sepulchres 
beautiful - - outward 
of dead men's bones 

and 
of all uncleanness 

Even so ye appear 
righteous - - unto men 
full of hypocrisy and iniquity - - within 



full 



- - witnm 



thii 



146 TEACHING TO READ 

30. O summer day beside the joyous sea ! 
O summer day so wonderful and white, 
So full of gladness and so full of pain ! 
Forever and forever shalt thou be 

To some the gravestone of a dead delight, 
To some the landmark of a new domain. 

A Summer Day by the Sea — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 

31. There is a tide in the affairs of men, 

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune ; 
Omitted, all the voyage of their life 
Is bound in shallows and in miseries. 

Julius Cccsar. Act IF. Scene III — William Shakespeare. 



30, Happiness and sadness placed side by side : 

so full of gladness - - so full of pain 
shalt thou be to some - - [shalt thou be] to some 
the gravestone - - the landmark 
of a dead delight - - of a new domain 

What is 2i joyous sea? 

Can you explain the second line ? Must it be a sea 
scene .^ 

What is the meaning of the third line .^ 

Explain the last three lines. 

Forever and forever — always (never ending). 

3 1 . There is a tide in the affairs of men, even as there 
is in what .^ 

Express the thought in your own words. 
Memorize. 

taken at the flood - - - leads on to fortune 

omitted ------ all the voyage of their life 

is bound in shallows and in miseries 



STUDIES IN CONTRAST 



147 



32. 



33' 



Truth crushed to earth shall rise again, — 
Th' eternal years of God are hers ; 

But Error, wounded, writhes with pain, 
And dies among his worshippers. 

The Battlefield — William Cullen Bryant. 

O Woman ! in our hours of ease 
Uncertain, coy, and hard to please. 
And variable as the shade 
By the Hght quivering aspen made ; 
When pain and anguish wring the brow, 
A ministering angel thou ! 

Marmion. Canto Sixth — Sir Walter Scott. 



32. Truth crushed to earth shall rise again 

but 
Error wounded writhes with pain, and dies. 

An EngUsh critic Vrote of these four Hnes : " A stanza 
which will bear comparison with any four lines as one 
of the noblest in the English language. The thought 
is complete, the expression perfect. A poem of a dozen 
such verses would be Uke a row of pearls, each beyond 
a king's ransom." 



33- 

in our hours of ease 



When pain and anguish 
wring the brow, 



Uncertain, 
coy, 

and hard to please, 
And variable as the shade By 
the Hght quivering aspen made ; 

\. 

A ministering angel thou! 



148 TEACHING TO READ 

34. Two went to pray ? Oh, rather say, 
One went to brag, the other to pray ; 

One stands up close, and treads on high, 
Where the other dares not lend his eye; 

One nearer to God's altar trod, 
The other to the altar's God. 

Richard Crashaw. 

35. It is not what people eat, but what they digest, 
that makes them strong. It is not what they gain, 
but what they save, that makes them rich. It is not 
what they read, but what they remember, that makes 
them learned. It is not what they profess, but what 
they practice, that makes them good. 



34. A series of contrasted parts. Note semicolons. 



One 



One went to brag | the other to pray ; 

stands up close 

where | the other dares not lend his eye; 



and 
treads on high 

One nearer to God's altar trod | the other to the altar's God. 

35, 36. Is there contrast in the opposed ideas of 

No. 35.^ ^ _ 

When there is a striking resemblance in both the 
structure and the language of a series of short sentences, 
the reading is likely to become monotonous because of 
the regular recurrence of the same emphasis and inflec- 
tion. Interested attention to the new ideas and enter- 
ing into the spirit of them whenever possible (for in- 
stance, command, rejoice, and cheerfully, in No. 36) 
will do much to overcome monotony. 



STUDIES IN CONTRAST 1 49 

36. No man can safely go abroad that does not love 
to stay at home. No man can safely speak that does 
not willingly hold his tongue. No man can safely 
govern that would not cheerfuU}^ become subject. No 
man can safely command that has not truly learned to 
obe}^. No man can safely rejoice, but he that has the 
testimony of a good conscience. Thomas a Kempis. 

37. The stranger who would form a correct opinion 
of the English character must not confine his observa- 
tions to the metropolis. He must go forth into the 
countr}^; he must sojourn in villages and hamlets; 
he must visit castles, villas, farmhouses, cottages ; he 
must wander through parks and gardens ; along hedges 
and green lanes ; he must loiter about countr}'' churches ; 
attend wakes and fairs, and other rural festivals ; and 
cope with the people in all their conditions, and all 
their habits and humors. 

Rural Life in England. The Sketch Book — Washington Irving. 



Do not crowd the thoughts. The author placed 
them in separate sentences so that the reader would 
be sure to take time to consider each one by itself. 
Be sure that your hearer gets not only the second of 
the two contrasted parts, but also the first. 

How does the construction of the sentences in No. 
35 differ from the construction of those in No. 36 .^ 

37. Between what thoughts does the contrast lie .^ 
Ans. Between what* he must not do, and what he must 
do. Note that the negative statement comes first. 
Following it we have a series of positive statements, 
each one containing one or more ideas in contrast with 
metropolis. 

Opposed to the idea of the metropolis are the 



150 TEACHING TO READ 

38. Oh ! Mona's waters are blue and bright 

When the sun shines out Hke a gay young lover ; 
But Mona's waves are dark as night 

When the face of heaven is clouded over. 

Mona's Waters — Anonymous. 

39. Like the leaves of the forest when summer is 

green, 
That host with their banners at sunset were 

seen : 
Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath 

blown, 
That host on the morrow lay withered and strown. 

The Destruction of Sennacherib — Lord Byron. 



individual ideas of country ; villages ; hamlets ; castles ; 
villas; farmhouses ; cottages; parks; gardens; hedges; 
lanes ; country churches ; wakes ; fairs ; and other rural 
festivals. Notice the corresponding harmony in the 
choice of action words, — go forth, sojourn, visit, wander 
through and (wander) along, loiter, and attend. 

38, 39. Nature is full of contrast, and writers turn 
to her freely when seeking comparisons. Stimulate 
the pupils to enter into the spirit of a selection, to "see " 
the picture; — and it will do no harm to remind them 
that the tendenc}^ of lightness, brightness, happiness, 
and kindred emotions is to manifest themselves in 
rising inflections, while sadness, sorrow, gloom, etc., 
correspondingly weigh the voice downward. 

39. Seen — when .^ 

During the second expedition of King Sennacherib into 



STUDIES IN CONTRAST 151 

40. ^ A blizzard on the prairie corresponds to a storm 
at sea ; it never affects the traveler twice alike. ^ Each 
norther seems to have a manner of attack all its own. 
^ One storm may be short, sharp, high-keyed, and 
malevolent, while another approaches slowly, relent- 
lessly, wearing out the souls of its victims by its inex- 
orable and long-continued cold and gloom. ^ One 
threatens for hours before it comes, the other leaps 
like a tiger upon the defenseless settlement, catching 
the children unhoused, the men unprepared. 

Boy Life on the Prairie — Hamlin Garland. 

Palestine, 185,000 of his men were lost in one night, " either 
by a pestilence or by some more awful manifestation of divine 
power." The camp immediately broke up, and the king fled. 

40. Sentence i. What is the author contrasting } 

How many divisions are indicated in the first sen- 
tence 1 What relation do the portions bear to each 
other .^ 

Observe the balanced words : blizzard, storm ; prairie, 
sea. Does it refer to blizzard or storm? Does norther 
mean blizzard or storm.? Do not overlook the thought 
value of both twice and alike. 

Sentence 2. Observe that manner and attack are 
both important new ideas. Be alert for aFtson (all 
its own). 

How does sentence 2 differ in thought from the second 
half of sentence i ^ 

Sentences 3 and 4. Develop the significance of such 
words and expressions as malevolent, relentlessly, wear- 
ing out the souls of its victims, inexorable, long-continued, 
threatens for hours, and leaps like a tiger, until a sug- 
gestion of the meaning creeps into expression. 



152 TEACHING TO READ 

41. ^ Born in stormy times, William Penn walked 
amid troubled waters all his days. ^ In an age of bitter 
persecution and unbridled wickedness, he never wronged 
his conscience. ^ A favored member of a court where 
statesmanship was intrigue and trickery, where the 
highest morality was corruption, he never stained his 
hands with a bribe. ^ Living under a government at 
war with the people, and educated in a school that 
taught the doctrine of passive obedience, his lifelong 
dream was of a popular government, of a state where 
the people ruled. 

Life of William Penn — Robert Jones Burdette. 



41. What is the theme '^. Ans. The contrast between 
characteristic qualities in WilHam Penn and character- 
istic qualities of the times in which he lived. 

Do not let Born in stormy times obscure William Penn, 

The pupil who phrases. Born in stormy times, has not 
noticed any balance (not contrast) between horn and 
all his days, and stormy times and troubled waters. (His 
life continued to the end under the same condition 
under which it was begun.) 

Sentence 2. Read without the adjectives ; then with 
them, and see to it that they do their dut}^. 

Is conscience a higher monitor with some than others .? 

Weigh the thought value of he. — Is it far enough 
from its antecedent to need special attention .^ Does 
it contrast with any idea expressed or understood } 

In what way might hitter persecution have tempted 
him to wrong his conscience? Unhridled wickedness? 

Sentence 3. Study the phrasing. Do not under- 
value a single important word, and yet do not allow 
your attention to single words to break thought groups. 



STUDIES IN CONTRAST 1 53 

Notice that sentence 2 deals with the age, 3 with 
the court, and 4 with the government, and do not fail 
to call attention to the topic of each. 

Build out the thoughts. Sentence 3 deals with the 
court. He was a member of the court. More than that, 
he was a favored member of the court, — a court where 
statesmanship was intrigue and trickery; where not 
only morality was corruption, but where the highest 
morality was corruption, — and yet (contrast), he never 
stained his hands with a bribe. 

What is the meaning o{ court? Statesmanship? The 
difference between intrigue and trickery? How might 
statesmanship become intrigue and trickery? 

What is the meaning of morality? Corruption? 
How might morality become corruption? 

How might intrigue and trickery in statesmanship 
tempt him to stain his hands with a bribe ? How might 
they corrupt morals? 

Does he require special attention .? — If so, why ? 

Sentence 4. Study the phrasing. It deals with two 
conditions, and a contrast is drawn from each. 

Not, living under a government, — all civilized people 
do, — but, living unde r a government at war with the 
people. It is a government at war with the people that 
contrasts with a popular government. Not educated in a 
school, — most boys are educated thus, — but educated 
in a school that taught the doctrine of passive obedience. 
It is the doctrine of passive obedience that contrasts 
with his idea of a state where the people ruled. 

What is passive obedience? What school taught it ? 

Is a popular government always one in which the 
people rule? Are the terms synonymous \ 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ — II 



154 TEACHING TO READ 

42. Then none was for a party; 

Then all were for the state ; 
Then the great man helped the poor, 
And the poor man loved the great; 
5 Then lands were fairly portioned ; 
Then spoils were fairly sold : 
The Romans were like brothers 
In the brave days of old. 

Now Roman is to Roman 

More hateful than a foe, 
And the Tribunes beard the high, 

And the Fathers grind the low. 
5 As we wax hot in faction. 

In battle we wax cold : 
Wherefore men light not as they fought 

In the brave days of old. 

Horctius — Thomas Babington Macaulay. 

42. Frequently entire stanzas are contrasted. 
Trace the portions of the stanzas between which 
there is a special relation. 



Now Roman is to Roman 
More hateful than a foe, 

And the Tribunes beard the high, 
And the Fathers grind the low. 



The Romans were like brothers 
In the brave days of old. 

Then the great man helped the poor, 
And the poor man loved the great ; 



What contrast is impHed in lines 5, 6, stanza i ? 
Observe balanced parts ; — as (hues 1-4, stanza i) : 





none party 






all state 




great man 


helped 


poor 


poor man 


loved 


great 



43. Regularly balanced. Trace contrasting parts. 
Memorize. 



STUDIES IN CONTRAST 1 55 

43. IN THE MORNING 

A little thing, a sunny smile, 

A loving word, at morn. 
And all day long the sun shone bright, 

And sweetest hopes were born. 

A Kttle thing, a hasty word, 

A cruel frown, at morn. 
And aching hearts went on their way 
And toiled throughout a dreary day. 

Disheartened, sad, and lorn. anonymous. 

44. COMPENSATION 

From the Essay on Compensation. 

1 Polarity, or action and reaction, we meet in every 
part of nature ; in darkness and light ; in heat and 
cold ; in the ebb and flow of waters ; in male and 
female; in the inspiration and expiration of plants 
and animals ; in the equation of quantity and quality 
in the fluids of the animal body; in the systole and 
diastole of the heart ; in the undulations of fluids, and 
of sound ; in the centrifugal and centripetal gravity ; 
in electricity, galvanism, and chemical affinity. ^ Super- 
induce magnetism at one end of a needle ; the opposite 
magnetism takes place at the other end. ^ If the south 
attracts, the north repels. ^ To empty here, you must 
condense there. ^ An inevitable dualism bisects na- 
ture, so that each thing is a half, and suggests another 
thing to make it whole; as, spirit, matter; man, 
woman; odd, even; subjective, objective; in, out; 
upper, under ; motion, rest ; yea, nay, 

Ralph Waldo Emerson. 



44. Polarity, or action and reaction, we meet in every 



156 TEACHING TO READ 

part of nature; in darkness and light; in heat and cold; in 
the ebb and flow of waters ; in male and female ; in the in- 
spiration and expiration of plants and animals; in the equation 
of quantity and quality in the fluids of the animal body; 
in the systole and diastole of the heart; in the undulations 
of fluids, and of sound ; in the centrifugal and centripetal 
gravity; in electricity, galvanism, and chemical afiinity. 
Superinduce magnetism at one end of a needle; the opposite 
magnetism takes place at the other end. If the south at- 
tracts, the north repels. To empty here, you must condense 
there. An inevitable dualism bisects nature, so that each 
thing is a half, and suggests another thing to make it whole; 
as, spirit, matter; man, woman; odd, even; subjective, ob- 
jective; in, oiit; upper, under; motion, rest; yea, nay. 

The above marks may prove helpful in directing 
attention not only to the contrasted ideas, but also 
(through absence) to the fact that some expressions 
v^hich, at a glance, appear to be contrasted ones are, 
in reality, not so. The marks are not intended as 
guides for the bending of the voice, although, in a 
general v^ay they correspond with it as to direction. 
To depend upon the guidance of such marks, par- 
ticularly in illustrations such as 35, 36, and 44, is 
dangerously likely to produce only a monotonous re- 
currence of similar inflections. This can usually be 
avoided through attention to v^ord values and group- 
ing, for good authors are as careful as good speakers 
to avoid monotony in construction. Observe hov^ Mr. 
Emerson avoids it in sentence i, and also obtains 
a forceful onv^ard movement with the heaviest parts 
effectively placed : 

(i) in darkness and light ; Alike in construction. 

(2) in heat and cold ; 



STUDIES IN CONTRAST 



157 



(3) in the ebb and flow of 

waters ; 

(4) in male and female ; 

(5) in the inspiration and 

expiration of plants 
and animals ; 

(6) in the equation of 

quantity and quaUty 
in the fluids of the 
animal body ; 

(7) in the systole and di- 

astole of the heart ; 



A change. Do not un- 
dervalue waters. 

Return to first form. 

Compare with 3. 



Longest and heaviest 
construction thus far. 
No contrast. 

Return to third form. 
No reason for a climax. 
He is only enumerating 
illustrations. 

Double idea in second 
part. — Opposite of 7.. 
Puts weight at end. 
No contrast. 

- Similar in length to 7 
and 8, but weightier in 
movement because of 
certain qualities in the 
adjectives. 

-Three subjects illustra- 
tive of action and re- 
action. — Three heavy 
words with the modi- 
fied one last. No con- 
trast. 

Part 10, sentence i, leads to sentence 2. The con- 
struction of sentence i, even with the above variation, 
is in danger of growing monotonous. So he drops it 
and uses a series of short sentences, each made up of 



(8) in the undulations of 
fluids, and of sound ; 



(9) in the centrifugal and 
centripetal gravity ; 



(10) in electricity, galvan- - 
ism, and chemical 
afl&nity. 



1^8 TEACHING TO READ 

45. EDGAR ALLAN POE 

Two mighty spirits dwelt in him : 
One, a wild demon, weird and dim, 
The darkness of whose ebon wings 
Did shroud unutterable things : 
One, a fair angel, in the skies 
Of whose serene, unshadowed eyes 
Were seen the hghts of Paradise. 

To these, in turn, he gave the whole 
Vast empire of his brooding soul ; 
Now, filled with strains of heavenly swell. 
Now thrilled with awful tones of hell : 
Wide were his being's strange extremes, 
'Twixt nether glooms, and Eden gleams 
Of tender, or majestic dreams. 

Paul Hamilton Hayne. 



contrasting parts. Then he sums up his argument in 
one long sentence, to which he appends a series of 
illustrations, — brief, pointed, contrasting. Even in 
this apparently promiscuous enumeration there has 
been some attention to euphony and arrangement. It 
starts with a bright energetic syllabication. Of the 
eight pairs, the longest, heaviest one is placed fourth, 
(recall part 6 in sentence i), but the parts of the 
eighth, although made up of short words, are long in 
their open vowel effect. 

45. What is the poet's theme ? 
Note how much the modified words and modifiers 
contribute to the thought. Phrase correctly. 



STUDIES IN CONTRAST 1 59 

46. PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY 
From The New Year. 

^ In every experience there is a twofold possibility : 
it must leave you stronger or weaker ; it cannot leave 
you as it found you. - God forces no man to become 
good or evil, wise or foolish, strong or weak. ^ He 
presents to every man, in every hour, the choice be- 
tween the two. ^ A moral purpose is cut into the very 
heart of the universe, and written inefFaceably on every 
minute of time; every day is charged with power to 
make or to destroy character, and you can no more escape 
the hourly test than you can resist the ravages of time 
or hide yourself from the search of death. ^ If you 
refuse opportunity, neglect duty, waste the gifts of 
life, you must grow weaker, smaller, more and more 
unhappy, by the operation of a law as inexorable as 
that which holds the planets in their spheres ; if, on 
the other hand, you take hold of life resolutely, spring 
to its tasks with strenuous and joyous energy, pour 
yourself into its opportunities, meet its duties valiantly, 
match your strength and purpose against its trials, 
temptations, and losses, then the same irresistible 
power that laid the foundations of the universe will 
build you up into strength, beauty, and usefulness. 

Lyman Abbott. 

46. Sentence i. What is the two fold -possibility 
in every experience? Note the contrast. 

Sentence 2. A series of contrasts. Do not under- 
value forces no man. 

Sentence 3. Instead of forcing, he presents what .^ 
To whom .r* When ? A choice between what two? 

Sentence 4. Purpose, the end or aim to which the view 
is directed in any plan, measure, or exertion. 

Moral, relating to the practice, manners, or conduct of 



i6o 



TEACHING TO READ 



men, as social beings, in relation to each other, and with 
reference to right and wrong. 

Explain the very heart of the universe ; resist the ravages 
of time ; hide yourself from the search of death. 

Express the first half of the sentence in simpler lan- 
guage. [Suggestion: Right and wrong in every end and 
aim is in every plan of the universe.] 

What is written ineffaceably on every minute of time? 
Why is it written ineffaceably on every minute of time ? 

Why can he say every day is charged with power ? 
[Suggestion: If every minute is a test, is not every day 
loaded with power to make character or to destroy it ?] 

Why can you not escape the hourly test? [Suggestion: 
The moments come to you, and pass. You decide, 
either actively or passively, what you will do with each.] 

Sentence 5. *To trace the divisions, take note of if, 
and if, on the other hand, — sure sign of contrast. 



If you 



refuse opportunity, 

neglect duty, 

waste the gifts of life, 



weaker, 
you must grow smaller, 

more and more unhappy, 
by the operation of a law as inexorable 
as that which holds the planets in their 
spheres; • 



if, on the other hand, 

you take hold of life resolutely, 

strenuous 

spring to its tasks with and 

joyous 

pour yourself into its opportunities, 

meet its duties valiantly. 



energy, 



match your 



strength 

and 
purpose 



agamst its 



trials, 

temptations, 
and losses, 



then the same irresistible 
power that laid the foun- 
dations of the universe will 
strength, 



build you up into 



beauty, 

and 

usefulness. 



STUDIES- IN CONTRAST 



i6i 



47. THE COLONIES FERSUS ENGLAND 

From a Speech delivered July 4, 1876. 

^ The Declaration of American Independence was a 
declaration of war with Great Britain,, war to the knife 
and the knife to the hilt. ^ There were fearful odds 
against the Colonies when they threw down the gage 

5 of battle. ^ On one side was England, — strong in 
consciousness of wealth and power, strong in the 

• prestige of sovereignty, full armed and equipped for 
war, insolent, haughty, scorning even to entertain the 
idea of possible check or defeat. ^ On the other side, 

10 the Thirteen Colonies, stretching for the most part 
along the seaboard, vulnerable at a hundred points, 
and open to attack by sea and land, without army, 
without navy, without money or ammunition or 
material of war, having for troops only crowds of un- 

15 disciplined citizens, who had left for awhile the plow 
and anvil and hurried to the front with what arms 
they could lay hands on to fight the veterans of King 
George, skilled in their terrible trade by long service 

in European wars. Richard O'Gorman. 



47. What was the gage of battle (sentence 2) } How 
was it a gage? How did they throw it down .^ 

Compare sentences 3 and 4 with sentence 5 in No. 46. 

If if, on the other hand, (46) 

On one side on the other side (47) 



On one side 
was England, 



strong in the consciousness 
of wealth and power, 

strong in the prestige of sov- 
ereignty, 



On the other side, 

[were] the Thirteen Colonies, 



stretching for the most part 
along the seaboard, 

vulnerable at a hundred 
points, and open to attack 
by sea and land. 



1 62 



TEACHING TO READ 



48. THE COMING OF LAFAYETTE 
From a Speech on Lafayette. 

^ He came ; but not in the day of successful rebellion ; 
not when the new-risen sun of Independence had burst 
the cloud of time, and careered to its place in the 
heavens. ^ He came when darkness curtained the hills, 
and the tempest was abroad in its anger ; when the 
plow stood still in the field of promise, and briers cum- 
bered the garden of beauty ; when fathers were dying,' 
and mothers were weeping over them ; when the wife 
was binding up the gashed bosom of her husband, and 
the maiden was wiping the death damp from the brow 
of her lover. ^ He came when the brave began to fear 
the power of man, and the pious to doubt the favor of 
God. ^ It was then that this one joined the ranks of a 
revolted people. Charles Sprague. 



full armed and equipped for 
war, 

insolent, haughty, scorning 
even to entertain the idea 
of possible check or defeat. 



without army, 
without navy. 



without 



money 

or ammunition 

or material of war, 



having for troops only crowds 
of undisciplined citizens, etc. 

What contrast do you find in lines 14-19 ? 

Do not pass over a single word or expression whose 
meaning may not be clear; as, the significance of 
such climactic expressions as war with Great Britain - - 
to the knife - - to the hilt; fearful odds against the 
Colonies; strong in the prestige of sovereignty ; insolent. 

48. Contrast between negative statements and posi- 



STUDIES IN CONTRAST 1 63 

tive statements, but the opposite of Nos. 2, 3, and 4. 
Remember that when a negative statement is fol- 
lowed by a contrasting positive statement, the nega- 
tive statement presents an incomplete thought. We 
read, He came . . not in this way and not in that, 
— BUT He came. .. . The thought remains in sus- 
pense, regardless of the punctuation, until we find out 
how he did come. 

He came ; 

but not in the day of successful rebellion ; 
not when the new-risen sun of Independ- 
ence had burst the cloud of time, and 
careered to its place in the heavens. 

He came when darkness curtained the hills, and 

the tempest was abroad in its anger; 
when the plow stood still in the field of promise, 
and briers cumbered the garden of beauty ; 
when fathers were dying, and 

mothers were weeping over them ; 
when the wife was binding up the gashed 
bosom of her husband, and 
the maiden was wiping the death damp 
from the brow of her lover. 

He came when the brave began to fear the power of man, 
and the pious to doubt the favor of God. 

It was then. — When.? That this one. — Who? A 
revolted people. ^^hdit^p^o^X^ .? i^^^o/^^^ against whom .? 

It is often difficult to paraphrase figurative expres- 
sions. They are Hke those poetical expressions in 
which the meaning is felt. It is often clearly appre- 
hended when it seems impossible to express it in other 
words. Let the teacher be very sure, however, whether 
or not the thought is translatable. Test the second 
half of sentence i, and the first two parts of sentence 2. 



164 TEACHING TO READ 

49. WHAT CONSTITUTES A STATE? 

What constitutes a State ? 
Not high-raised battlement or labored mound, 

Thick wall or moated gate ; 
Not cities proud with spires and turrets crowned ; 
5 Not bays and broad-armed ports, 

Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride ; 

Not starred and spangled courts. 
Where low-browed baseness wafts perfume to pride. 
No ; — men, high-minded men, 
10 With powers as far above dull brutes endued 
In forest, brake, or den. 
As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude, — 

Men who their duties know. 
But know their rights, and, knowing, dare maintain ; 
15 Prevent the long-aimed blow. 

And crush the tyrant while they rend the chain : — 

These constitute a State ; 
And sovereign Law, that State's collected will, 
O'er thrones and globes elate, 
20 Sits empress, crowning good, repressing ill. 

Sir William Jones. 

49. A similarly constructed contrast, in poetry. 

"What constitutes a state? Not high-raised battlement or 
labored mound, thick wall or moated gate ; not cities fair, 
with spires and turrets crowned, no ! Men, high-minded men ! " 

AlccBUS. Paraphrased by Sir William Jones. 
Alcseus (al se'ws), Greek lyric poet. About B.C. 620-580. 

What is the meaning of State? What is a high-raised 
hattlement? A labored mound? A moated gate? Why 
might some think these constitute a State } 

Define constitute ; turrets. KxplRin broad-armed ports. 
Starred and spangled courts. — Referring to the wearing 



STUDIES IN CONTRAST 



I6S 



of stars and jewels by the lords and ladies at court. 

What is meant by wafting ferfume to pride? 

What are high-minded men? 

Explain the meaning that line 15 suggests. 

To what does these (line 17) refer ? 

What Sits empress (line 20) .? 

What crowns good and represses ill? 

What relation does law bear to the State .^ Ans. It 
is that State's collected will. 

What is meant by collected will? 

In what way is law the State's collected will? 

Why sovereign Law .^ 

Meaning of elate? How is Law elate o'er thrones 
and globes? 

How does Law sit empress? Why do you think the 
poet chose that particular kind of ruler to express his 
idea ? How does Law crown good? Repress ill? 



not 

high-raised battlement 
or labored mound, 
thick wall 
or moated gate ; 
not 

cities proud with spires and 
turrets crowned ; 
not 

bays and broad-armed 

ports, 
where, laughing at the 
storm, rich navies ride ; 
not 

starred and spangled courts, 

where low-browed baseness 

wafts perfume to pride. 



men, 
high-minded men, 

with powers as far above 
dull brutes endued in forest, 
brake, or den, as beasts ex- 
cel cold rocks and brambles 
rude, — 
men 

their duties know, 
but 
-who know their rights, 
and, knowing, 
maintain ; 
prevent the long- 
aimed blow, 
dare and 

crush the tyrant 
while they rend 
the chain : — 



1 66 TEACHING TO READ 

50. ROLLA'S ADDRESS TO THE PERUVIANS 
From the Drama Pizarro {Die Spanier in Peru). 

^ My brave associates, . . . you have judged, as I 
have, the foulness of the crafty plea by which these 
bold invaders would delude you. ^ Your generous 
spirit has compared, as mine has, the motives, which, 
in a war like this, can animate their minds and ours. 
^ They by a strange frenzy driven, fight for power, for 
plunder, and extended rule ; we for our country, our 
altars, and our homes. ^ They follow an adventurer 
whom they fear, and obey a power which they hate; 
we serve a monarch whom we love, a God whom we 
adore. ^ Whene'er they move in anger, desolation 
tracks their progress. ^ Whene'er they pause in amity, 

Sir William Jones was an Englishman (1746 to 1794). 
Few pieces of poetry have been more widely quoted, or 
have greater promise of long life. — Why ? 

Is the poem a good and full description of the kind 
of men we want at the head of our government ? 

Briefly expressed, what kind of men are described } 

Why does not law constitute a State? Whose col- 
lected will is law ? Ans. The State's. Yes, but who 
constitute a State ? Law is therefore the collected will 
of whom .^ 

Memorize. 

f 
50. Ifi. In what way are sentences i and 2 similar ^. 

What similarity do you see in the two parts of sen- 
tence 3 ^. What contrast ? 

Study the contrast in sentence 4 : Will you divide 
it into four parts and have the third balance the first 



STUDIES IN CONTRAST 167 

affliction mourns their friendship. " They boast they 
come but to improve our state, enlarge our thoughts, 
and free us from the yoke of error ! ^ Yes ; they, — 
they will give enlightened freedom to our minds, who 
are themselves the slaves of passion, avarice, and 
pride ! 

^ They offer us their protection. ^ Yes ; such pro- 
tection as vultures give to lambs, — covering and de- 
vouring them ! ^ The}^ call on us to barter all of good 
we have inherited and proved for the desperate chance 
of something better which they promise. ^ Be our 
plain answer this : — The throne we honor is the 
people's choice ; the laws we reverence are our brave 
fathers' legacy ; the faith we follow teaches us to live 
in the bonds of charity with all mankind, and die with 
the hope of bliss beyond the grave. ^ Tell your in- 
vaders this ; and tell them, too, we seek no change, 
and least of all, such change as they would bring us. 

August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue. (Translation.) 



and the fourth the second .^ Or does it divide into two 
parts with the third and fourth together balancing the 
first and second .^ 

In what way are sentences 5 and 6 similar ? 

Sentence 8. Why does the speaker repeat .^ Which 
part of the thought in sentence 8 is found in sen- 
tence 7 .^ Wherein lies the contrast .^ 

T[2. Sentence 2. What contrasts with protection? 

Sentence 3. What balances all of good? Proved? 

Sentence 4. Observe the semicolons. In what way 
are parts i and 2 ahke ^. How does the form of part 3 
differ from parts i and 2 } 

Sentence 5. Tell your invaders — what ? No change 
— from what .? 



1 68 TEACHING TO READ 

51. THE BLUE AND THE GRAY 

1. By the flow of the inland river, 

Whence the fleets of iron have fled, 
Where the blades of the grave-grass quiver. 
Asleep are the ranks of the dead, — 
Under the sod and the dew. 

Waiting the judgment day; — 
Under the one, the Blue ; 
Under the other, the Gray. 

2. Those in the robings of glory. 

These, in the gloom of defeat. 
All with the battle-blood gory. 
In the dusk of eternity meet ; — 
Under the sod and the dew. 

Waiting the judgment day ; — 
Under the laurel, the Blue ; 
Under the willow, the Gray. 

3. From the silence of sorrowful hours 

The desolate mourners go. 
Lovingly laden with flowers 

Alike for the friend and the foe ; — 
Under the sod and the dew. 

Waiting the judgment day ; — 
Under the roses, the Blue ; 
Under the lihes, the Gray. 

4. So with an equal splendor 

The morning sun-rays fall. 
With a touch, impartially tender, 

On the blossoms blooming for all ; — 
Under the sod and the dew, 

Waiting the judgment day ; — 
'Broidered with gold, the Blue ; 
Mellowed with gold, the Gray. 



STUDIES IN CONTRAST 1 69 

5. So, when the summer calleth, 

On forest and field of grain, 
•With an equal murmur falleth 
The coohng drip of the rain ; — 
Under the sod and the dev/, 

Waiting the judgment day; — 
Wet with the rain, the Blue ; 
Wet with the rain, the Gray. 

6. Sadly, but not with upbraiding, 

The generous deed was done ; 
In the storm of the years that are fading. 
No braver battle was won ; — 
Under the sod and the dew. 

Waiting the judgment day ; — 
Under the blossoms, the Blue ; 
Under the garlands, the Gray. 

7. No more shall the war-cry sever. 

Or the winding rivers be red ; 
They banish our anger forever 

When they laurel the graves of our dead ! 
Under the sod and the dew. 

Waiting the judgment day ; — 
Love and tears for the Blue ; 
Tears and love for the Gray. 

Francis Miles Finch. 



51. The poem . . . commemorates the noble action of the 
women of Columbus, Mississippi, who on Decoration Day 
strewed flowers alike on the graves of the Federal and Con- 
federate soldiers. In pathos and beauty of sentiment it is 
one of the finest poems in the English language. The beauties 
of antithesis were never better illustrated. Words are wedded 
to the sense, as will be seen in the solemn English forms 
"calleth" and "falleth." It is certain that this poem, "In 
the storm of the years that are fading," has done much to 
allay sectional strife. 0/^ G/ory — Albert Elias Maltby. 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ 12 



170 TEACHING TO READ 

Stanza i. Observe the smoothness of Hnes i and 2, 
the idea in quiver and the keynote value of asleep. 
Repetition has not begun in stanza i and the refrain is 
new throughout. 

Stanza 2. Observe the contrast not only in words, 
but also in the figurative expressions in lines i and 2. 
What were the robings of glory? 

The irrepressible brightness which victory lends 
even to death touches the poem here and there and 
keeps it from being a dirge. Except for this one 
point, the poet's treatment of the soldiers is the same 
throughout. 

Observe the balances. Those - - these - - - - all. 

Eternity suggests the judgment of individual men. 

Dusk of eternity. — Compare ** night of death"; 
"morning of the resurrection." 

What is the prevailing sentiment of the refrain ? 
Ans. Solemnity, — waiting the judgment day. Through 
laurelwt feel the wreath of victory, but sadness breathes 
through willow. 

Stanzas i and 2 may be regarded as introductory. 

Stanza 3. Entrance of the women — desolate mourners 
• — whose grief-stricken hearts have been ennobled 
through lessons of suffering and sympathy and love. 
Theirs not to judge ; — the friend and the foe, are wait- 
ing the judgment day. 

Are not the roses just a little brighter ? Change the 
words and see if you like the effect equally well. 

Stanza 4. So. — How .^ Ans. Just as the women did. 

What new phase of equal treatment is introduced ? 
Who is the actor ? 

Do we need the commas after fall and tender? 



STUDIES IN CONTRAST 171 

The new actor is allowed to touch the refrain, and he 
'broiders with gold the Blue, while he mellozus with gold 
the Gray. 

Stanza 5. So. — How ? Another actor is meeting 
them equally : What else can the North do ? 

Catch the liquid melody of the long open vowels, — 
equal murmur falleth the cooling drip (compare the idea 
of drip with that of mttrmur) of the rain. 

The refrain of the judgment day is now old and there 
is no difference in the treatment expressed in the closing 
lines. 

Stanza 6. Stanzas 3, 4, and 5 may be said to repre- 
sent a series of ideas. Stanza 6 reverts in thought to 
stanza 3 and the story begins to draw to a close. 

Meaning of upbraiding? Sadly; it must be ex- 
pected that it would be done. 

No braver battle — than what .^ 

Was won — when .? 

The judgment day is still the one of eternity in stanza 
2 : while, in the flowers, we sense a touch of hope and 
brightness in blossoms that changes to one of sadder 
melody {garlands) for the Gray. 

Stanza 7. Conclusion. 

From the standpoint of which section of the country 
is it written .^ 

Catch the ringing note of love. Heart has touched 
heart ! • 

The refrain leaves them where it first found them, — 
waiting the judgment day, in the equality of man for man. 
The heart of the North speaks in the arrangement : 

Love and tears for the Blue ; 
Tears and love for the Gray. 



172 TEACHING TO READ 

Reread, applying your understanding of Contrast : 

Chap. I, Nos. i6, 25, 27. 
Chap. Ill, Nos. 16, 34. 
Chap. IV, No. 28. 
Chap. V, Nos. 12, 28, 29, 33. 

Suggestive Studies for Written Review 

1. Of what value is the use of contrast in literature ^ 

2. Give two examples between No. i and No. 8 
of a positive statement followed by a negative state- 
ment. 

3. Express the thought of No. 13 in your own words. 

4. Mark the contrasted ideas in No. 35 (^^). 

5. Between what thoughts does the contrast lie in 
No. 37 .? 

6. What method of contrast have the poets used in 
Nos. 38 and 39, and what is the effect ? 

7. (No. 41.) Explain the meaning of he never 
wronged his conscience ; the difference in meaning be- 
tween intrigue and trickery. 

What school taught the AoQtvm^ oi passive obedience? 
What is that doctrine ? 

8. (No. 42.) What contrast is implied in lines 5, 6, 
of stanza I .? 

9. State in your own words the gist of No. 43. 



CHAPTER VII 

STUDIES IN PARENTHETICAL EXPRESSIONS, 
EXPLANATORY CLAUSES, AND THE LIKE 

Many sentences contain expressions thrown more or 
less loosely among their other parts. Sometimes the 
expression is a single word (see No. i), and certain 
words are generally used in this way ; notably, too, 
therefore, iiowever, consequently. Words used in this 
manner are technically spoken of as parenthetical. 

Such expressions, however, may consist of one word 
or many, of one phrase or clause or many phrases or 
clauses. Sometimes the}^ are not essential to the mean- 
ing of the sentence (3) ; sometimes they modify the 
thought (5) ; sometimes the}^ present an additional 
thought (14). Often they come between two impor- 
tant parts of the sentence, as between subject and 
predicate (16), or between parts of a quotation (44), 
in which cases they may be termed Intermediate Ex- 
pressions. 

Closely related to these as far as reading is concerned 
are the parenthetical sentences found in paragraphs 
(see 59), and the parenthetical paragraphs occasionally 
found on pages. 

Sometimes our attention is attracted to these ex- 
pressions by brackets (37), which tell us that the matter 
included is entirely independent of the sentence, and 
may have been inserted by a person other than the 

173 



174 TEACHING TO READ 

one who wrote the sentence ; but much more often 
by parentheses (36), dashes (38), or commas (4), — 
according to the degree of "looseness," and frequently 
according to the particular writer's own preference in 
punctuation. 

Sometimes parenthetical and intermediate expres- 
sions are explanatory (16). Explanatory expressions 
present a variety of forms, and when, as in the case of 
the longer examples at the end of the chapter, we come 
upon a paragraph containing a variety of expressions 
(47), it requires careful thinking to get all the parts 
straightened out in the mind, and then it requires 
careful oral practice to read the paragraph so that 
hearers will comprehend the entire thought and see the 
relationships of all the parts of the sentence as plainly 
as we do. It is easier for a reader to catch the thought 
than it is for a hearer, because the reader has everything 
right before his eyes, including some very plain punc- 
tuation marks, to help him out ; but the hearer has 
nothing but the spoken words, and must often get 
much of the thought from the way the reader groups 
the words and the way he utters them. 

Now the essential in saying things correctly is think- 
ing them correctly. The short sentences at the be- 
ginning of the chapter are easy to read. Why ? Be- 
cause we have spoken others like them many times. 
We have had practice in saying such things — abundant 
practice. But we have had comparatively little prac- 
tice in either thinking or speaking longer and more 
complicated sentences. So we lead up to them grad- 
ually, making each step plain as we go, — which, in 
all difficult problems, is the only logical way. 



STUDIES IN PARENTHETICAL EXPRESSIONS 175 

Pedagogical Introduction 

The direction usually printed for the reading of 
parenthetical expressions is to use a lower tone of voice 
and a more rapid delivery. One might rely entirely 
upon such direction in reading short parenthetical 
expressions in which the thoughts are entirely uncon- 
nected ; but as we come upon sentences containing in- 
serted expressions related to the main thoughts in 
manifold degrees of closeness and looseness, we are, 
obliged to reason out for ourselves the manner in which 
each should be read. 

The reading of sentences containing inserted ex- 
pressions may be indicated roughly as follows : 
— a b - - - — -- 



The difficulty in teaching the reading of such sen- 
tences lies not in getting the pupils to change the pitch, 
but in getting them to change it at a and to return 
to it at b in such a manner that the second half of the 
main thought will be unmistakably Hnked with the 
first half; in other words, to leave the main thought 
at a in such a way that the hearer knows it is to be 
taken up again, and to take it up at b in such a way 
that the listener's mind immediately links b back to a. 

The difficulty lies in the fact that the pupil has either 
not grasped the connection, or, having grasped it, 
has failed to hold the first part of the leading thought 
in mind while he disposed of the inserted portion. 

What can the teacher do ? She can stop and teach 
that sentence. She can place it upon the blackboard 
where it can be marked and the relations shown. 
There is inspiration for the reading class in having 



176 TEACHING TO READ 

every eye attracted to the same spot. Much time 
also is saved when the teacher can point to just what 
she is talking about or asking questions about, and need 
not wait for fifteen or twenty pupils to find it in fifteen 
or twenty books at as many different rates of speed. 

Various devices may be used to cause the different 
expressions in the sentence to stand out by themselves, 
or to show their relations one to another. The main 
thought may be underlined ; parentheses or brackets 
may be used ; colored crayon may be brought into ser- 
vice ; arrows will call attention to related words ; and 
spacing and lining can be used to advantage. Thus : 

The ship leaps as it were from billow to billow. 
The ship leaps (as it were) from billow to billow. 
The ship leaps as it Were from billow to billow. 
The ship leaps from billow to billow 

as it were 

But whatever device is used, it should be put aside 
the moment it has accomplished its purpose, and a 
final test be made through a reading from the book. 

Closing the study of the chapter, each pupil may be 
required to bring in the most difficult sentence or para- 
graph that he can find and present it before the class. 
Stimulate pride in presenting a selection so clearl}^ that 
there is no confusion in the minds of those who listen. 

Let the test of reading be dual : 

How well does the reader give the thought ? How 
thoroughly does the class comprehend it ? 

How clearly does the reader understand the thought 
himself ? How clearly does the class get the thought ^ 

Test both by questioning. 



STUDIES IN PARENTHETICAL EXPRESSIONS 177 

SELECTIONS AND SUGGESTIVE STUDIES 

1. Let us, therefore, give heed to his advice. I 
think, on the whole, it is good. 

2. The vessel, you must understand, was so long and 
broad and ponderous that the united force of all the 
fifty was insufficient to shove her into the water. 

3. We know the uses — and sweet they are — of 
adversity. 

4. The tramp, who proved to be a soldier in dis- 
guise, led the way down a dark, narrow alley to the 
river bank. 

5. The wall, judging by the outward appearance, 
will require no repair. 

6. We, the people of the United States, do hereby 
ordain and establish this Constitution. 

7. We, the undersigned, ' citizens of the State of 
Ohio, do humbly petition, etc. 

I, 2. Simplest forms of inserted word, phrase, and 
clause, — not essential to the meaning. 

What does the presence of each suggest ? [Suggestive 
Ans. The insertion of therefore shows that the advice 
is based upon reasons previously stated.] 

3. An inserted statement having no necessary con- 
nection with the main part of the sentence. 

' What do the dashes say .? 

4, Not essential, but an additional thought. 

5. A phrase that modifies the meaning. 

6, 7. A single explanation, and a double explanation, 
— "Secondary Explanatory." 



178 TEACHING TO READ 

8. Captain William Robinson, a Cornishman, com- 
mander of the Hopewell, a stout ship of three hundred 
tons, came to my house. 

9. Hermes went to Hades, the dark and stern king, 
for Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, the goddess 
of vegetation and of useful fruits. 

It is important that we notice exactly what an appended or 
inserted portion refers to or explains (10-17). 

10. He quoted the adage, *'A penny saved is a penny 
earned." 

11. Cyrus W. Field's scheme, to unite the two con- 
tinents by cable, was finally successful. 

12. The man has that which is better than wealth, 
an honest reputation. 



8. One of the parts of a double explanation, in turn, 
explained. 

Be careful that the Captain does not become the 

ship of three hundred tons. 

9. Demeter, not Persephone, was the Greek goddess 
of vegetation and useful fruits. 

Hermes, the Greek messenger of the gods, and inventor of 
the lyre. 

Hades, the Greek name for Pluto, the lord of the infernal 
regions. The mythological story goes that he seized Per- 
sephone while she was plucking flowers and carried her to 
the lower regions to be- his wife. 

10. Explanatory of a single word. Position at end. 

11. Explanatory of a modified word and its modifier. 
Position inserted. Field's scheme (articulation). 



STUDIES IN PARENTHETICAL EXPRESSIONS 179 

13. King James abdicated and went to France — a 
voluntary act. 

14. Cultivate in every way, especially by observa- 
tion, j^our perceptive faculties. 

15. Tobacco — a nauseating plant that is consumed 
by but two creatures — a large green worm and man. 
The worm doesn't know any better. 

The Foolish Dictionary. 

16. Clarissa (such was the lady's name) smiled down 
into the face of the child. 

17. Do you still expect (I hope from what you have 
written me that you do) to be able to visit us .^ 

12. Explanatory of preceding clause. 

The man has an honest reputation. 

13. Refers to all that precedes. Position at end. 

14. A reference to the whole proposition, — both 
what precedes and what follows. 

Compare with No. 13. Why is No. 14 harder to 
read .f* 

15. An explanatory definition, which in turn uses an 
explanation. 

16. Compare with No. 10. — How are they ahke ? 
(In both having a portion explanatory of a single word.) 

How are they different .^ (In the position of the 
explanatory portions ; etc.) Notice the grammatical 
position of the insertion. — Between what } 

17. Abrupt insertion in a question. 

Compare its grammatical position with that of the 
parenthesis in No. 16. Compare it with No. 14. 



l8o TEACHING TO READ 

It is important that we notice methods of punctuating inserted 
portions (18-22). 

18. At the Battle of Lexington, seven Americans — 
the first martyrs of the Revolution — were killed. 

19. The great golden eagle, the pride and the pest of 
the parish, swooped down and flew away with some- 
thing in his talons. 

20. Five days afterward (September 18, 1759), the 
city and the garrison capitulated. 

21. New England has more weather to the square 
inch than any other country on the globe. [Laughter.] 

22. The petals of the daisy, day's eye, close at night 
and in rainy weather. 

18-20.. Compare No. 18 and No. 19. At first glance 
they appear alike. Each presents an additional 
thought, and both are unessential. Then why were 
commas used in 19, and dashes, which are supposed to 
indicate a wider separation of the thought, used in 18 .^ 

Notice how easily the intermediate expression blends 
with the main thought in No. 19. Then note the patri- 
otic dignity that surrounds the insertion in No. 18, 
giving it a greater importance and correspondingly sepa- 
rating it from the main thought. Read No. 18 and then 
No. 19, trying to feel the difl^erence. 

Compare No. 18 and No. 20. 

A technical explanation of the punctuation of these 
sentences, for the pupils who will understand it, is : 
No. 20 presents a genuine parenthesis; No. 19 is 
merely an appositive ; No. 18 is something more than 
an appositive. It is equivalent to "and they were,'"* 
etc., and refers to a future time; that is, there is a dis- 



STUDIES IN PARENTHETICAL EXPRESSIONS i8l 

It is important that we notice the punctuation of appended 
portions (23-30). 

23. It is with words as with sunbeams — the more 
they are condensed, the deeper they burn. 

24. Mankind is divided into five races : the Cau- 
casian, the Mongolian, the Ethiopian, the Malay, and 
the American. 

25. Some men distinguish the history of the world 
into four ages ; viz., the golden age, the silver age, the 
brazen age, and the iron age. 



tinct difference in sense, which makes it parenthetical. 
' Which of the insertions in Nos. 1-20 are appositive ^ 

21. An insertion to show how a remark was received 
by the audience. Story : 

Lazuley. (Expert shorthand reporter.) " I say, James, the 
boy from the newspaper office has called for the report of 
that lecture. Is it finished ? " 

James. " All but a short sentence in the middle of it, and 
I can't for the life of me make out from my notes what it is." 

Lazvley. "Oh, just put in 'great applause' and let it go." 

James acted on the suggestion, and the lecture was sent 
for publication with the doctored part reading : " Friends, I 
will detain you but a few moments longer. [Great applause.] " 

22. Explanatory of word origin. Anglo-Saxon 
dcBges-eage {dcsg, da}^ and eage, eye), day's eye. The 
true European daisy, — not the American one. 

23. Explanatory comparison. 
24-27. Compare the punctuation. 

25. Viz., a modification of the Latin word videlicet, mean- 
ing namely. Distinguish, to divide; to separate. 

Determine the value of the repeated word. 



1 82 TEACHING TO READ 

26. Always have some solid reading in hand ; i.e., 
some work or author which we carry forward from one 
day to another, or one hour of leisure to the next, with 
persistence, till we have finished whatever we have 
unclertaKen. Books and Reading — Noah Porter. 

27. To Greece we are indebted for the three principal 
orders of architecture : namely, the Doric, the Ionic, 
and the Corinthian. 

28. Steam is like air in three ways. It is very thin ; 
it is very elastic, — that is, it has great springiness; 
and you cannot see it. 



26. I.e., Latin, id est, '' that is." 

Have what ^ What kind of reading? How much ? 
When.? 

What is the difference between work and author? 
Carry forward. — When ? How .? To what extent ? 

27. Doric columns are distinguished for simplicity and 
strength. Ionic columns are more slender than the Doric, 
with a spiral scroll capital and a fluted shaft. Corinthian 
columns are the most ornate of columns. (See Dictionary.) 

28. Entirely separate. An explanatory series, one 
member of which, in turn, has an explanatory clause. 
Note the semicolons. 

29. Count wh^t to be grandly true? Ans. This thing. 
— Vslhich thing? Phrase correctly. 

Weigh the value of the modified words and the 
modifiers. 

Gradatim, gradually; step by step. 
Memorize. 



STUDIES IN PARENTHETICAL EXPRESSIONS 183 

29. I count this thing to be grandly true : 

That a noble deed is a step toward God, 
Lifting the soul from the common clod 
To a purer air and a broader view. 

Gradatim — Josiah Gilbert Holland. 

30. Here on this beach a hundred years ago, 
Three children of three houses, Annie Lee, 
The prettiest little damsel in the port. 
And Philip Ray, the miller's only son, 
And Enoch Arden, a rough sailor's lad. 
Made orphan by a winter shipwreck, play'd 
Among the waste and lumber of the shore. 

Enoch Arden — Alfred Tennyson. 



30. An explanatory series, each part of which contains 
a secondary explanation, the third secondary explana- 
tion having an additional thought appended. The 
use of commas throughout adds to the difficulty in 
reading the paragraph. Note how parenthetical dashes 
would have aided the reader. And yet do we really 
need them ? We have a key to the parenthetical 
portion in the word three. 

" Enoch Arden " is one of Tennyson's most popular poems. 
Concerning it, Henry van Dyke writes in the preface to "The 
Poetry of Tennyson" that it was the key that let one happy 
fourteen-year-old boy [himself] " into the garden and palace 
of poetry . . . not that this was his first book of poems . . . 
but hitherto poetry had seemed to him like something foreign 
and remote, much less interesting than fiction and even than 
some kinds of history. . . . But ' Enoch Arden ' belonged to 
life. It was a story about real people. And then it was so 
beautifully told. There was such a glow in it, such splendid 
color, such a swing and sweep of musical words, such a fine 



184 TEACHING TO READ 

The reasons for insertions and additions differ (31-39). 

31. In Acts 21:15, w^ read, "We took up our 
carriages [luggage] and went up to Jerusalem." 

32. *^I will read you their letter to Congress." [Here 
the letter was read, surrendering the power as aforesaid.] 

33. My friend who sits above me (Mr. Yelverton) 
has a bill of confirmation; we do not come unprepared 
to Parliament. 

34. Hamlet. I am very glad to see you. — [To 

Bernardo] 
Good even, sir. 

Hamlet. Act I. Scene II — William Shakespeare. 

35. Captain Absolute. Now for a parental lecture. 

{Enter Sir Anthony Absolute.) 
Sir, I am delighted to see you here, and look- 
ing so well ! Your sudden arrival at Bath made me 
apprehensive for your health. 

The Rivals. Act II. Scene I — Richard Brinsley Sheridan. 



picture of a brQve man . . . why, this was as good as any 
novel — yes, somehow it was better, for there was a charm 
in the very movement of the verse . . . that seemed to stir 
the feelings and make them deeper and fuller. So the boy 
became a lover of poetry . . . and began to look around him 
for other poems which should give him the same kind of 
pleasure." 

31. The insertion of a word to explain an obsolete 
word. 

To help correct expression, read, inserting that is. 

32. The insertion of a sentence explaining a proceed- 
ing apart from the speech. 



STUDIES IN PARENTHETICAL EXPRESSIONS 185 

36. What grave (These are the words of Wellesley, 
speaking of the two Pitts) contains such a father and 
such a son ! 

37. "He [the Most High] gave to thee [Columbus] 
the keys of those gates of the ocean . . . which were 
fast closed with such mighty chains," 

The Dream of Columbus, narrated in his letter to the King and 
Queen of Spain. 

38. I have seen thousands — or more properly, tens 
of thousands — of these insects feeding together on 
the rich grass of the prairies. 

39. The comparison of two ambitious men (Napoleon 
to Caesar), two rich men (Vanderbilt to Croesus), two 
beautiful women (Eve to Venus), does not constitute a 
good simile or metaphor. 



33. An inserted explanation of a reference that other- 
wise might not be sufficiently definite. 

Be careful that you do not allow the inserted portion 
to destroy the continuousness of the main idea. 

34, 35. Insertion of stage directions in dialogue. 

To be given clearly and plainly, but wholly uncolored 
by the conversational style of the dialogue. 

36. An insertion stating the origin of a quotation, 
in order to give it added weight. 

Pitt, see Lord Chatham, No. 21, page 234. 

37. Making references plain. 

38. Inserting a correction. 

39. A series of explanatory illustrations. 

Do not allow the inserted portions to destroy the 
continuousness of the main thought. 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ I3 



1 86 TEACHING TO READ 

The forms of insertions may vary (40-43). 

40. The United States — What American will doubt 
it ? — is the most glorious nation under the sun. 

41. She managed the matter so well (Oh, she was a 
genius at tact !) that the angry children were smiling 
at each other before they realized that she was there 
as a peacemaker. 

42. Know then this truth (enough for man to know) : 
"Virtue alone is happiness below." 

• An Essay on Man. Epistle IV — Alexander Pope. 



40-43. Question; exclamation; statement; dia- 
logue. 

42. Know then — what .^ 

^^ Virtue alone is happiness helow^^ is a what .? Ans. A 
truth. What is the meaning of virtue? What is the 
sense of alone? Where is below? 

Compare No. 42 with No. 14. Why is 42 more 
difficult to read ? Ans. In 14 the inserted portion 
breaks a simple statement {Cultivate your perceptive 
faculties) ; in 42, it comes between an explanation 
and a statement, which is a step more difficult. The 
reader must read truth in such a way that a hearer 
will know instinctively that it is going to be explained. 
He must read the parenthetical expression in such a 
way that the hearer will know instinctively that it is 
not the explanation. Then he must read the explana- 
tion in such a way that the hearer immediately recog- 
nizes it as such and instinctively links it with truth. 
To do this the pupil must first get the thought, then 



STUDIES IN PARENTHETICAL EXPRESSIONS 187 

43. The Frenchman first in Kterary fame, 
(Mention him, if you please. Voltaire ? — 

The same) 
With spirit, genius, eloquence suppHed, 
Lived long, wrote much, laughed heartily,' 

and died. 

44. "The place at which we entered the lake," to use 
the words of Joliet, "is a harbor very convenient to 
receive ships and to give them protection against the 

wind. History of the United States — George Bancroft. 

45. "We are lUinois," said they, — that is, when 
translated, "We are men;" and they offered the 
calumet. History of the United States — George Bancroft. 



he must hold his conception of it, in its entirety, long 
enough not only to express the several ideas in the 
sentence, but also to show the exact relationship of 
each to the others. 

44. A very common form of insertion. 
Read, first, omitting inserted portion. 
What does and connect .^ — Phrase correctly. 

45. A step more difficult because of the inserted 
explanation. 

Read, omitting that is, when translated. 

Read, omitting when translated. 

Read, omitting said they. 

Calumet. — Among the American Indians, a pipe used for 
smoking tobacco, having a bowl made of soft red stone and 
a long reed for the stem, usually ornamented with feathers. 
It is used as a symbol of peace and war, to seal compacts, 
and as a mark of welcome to strangers. {Webster.) 



1 88 TEACHING TO READ 

46. Tom Jones, who, bad as he is, must serve for 
the hero of this history ["The History of Tom Jones," 
by Henry Fielding] had only one friend among all the 
servants of the family of Mr, Allworthy. This friend 
was George Seagrin, the gamekeeper, commonly known 
as *' Black George," 

47. "It is Sunday afternoon, and Erie — *Mad 
Anthony Wayne's' old headquarters — has donned 
its Sunday clothes, and turned out by hundreds to 
see the great snowplow" [a railroad snowplow] "come 
in, — its first voyage over the line." 

40. Tom Jones had only, etc. 

who must serve . . [ ] 

bad as he is 

Read the main thought. 

Read, inserting who must serve for the hero of this 
history. 

Read again, inserting the portion within the brackets. 

Read again, inserting had as he is. 

Did you link must serve with who, and had only, etc., 
with Tom Jones? (Let both reader and hearers judge,) 

47. Trace the main thought. What explanation has 
been inserted by the person quoting it .^ 

Is 'Mad Anthony Wayne's^ old headquarters an ex- 
planation of Erie, or an additional inserted thought '^. 

What is the first thought in the sentence ,^ Ans. It 
is Sunday afternoon. 

What does and, line i, connect .^ 

How many things has Erie done ,^ 

Can you show the quoted part as you read the 
insertion \ 



STUDIES IN PARENTHETICAL EXPRESSIONS 189 

48. No pencil has ever yet given anything hke the 
true effect of an iceberg. In a picture, they are huge, 
uncouth masses stuck in the sea ; while their chief 
beauty and grandeur, — theilr slow, stately motion, the 
whirling of the snow about their summits, and the 
fearful groaning and cracking of their parts, — the 
picture cannot give. 

Two Years Before the Mast — Richard Henry Dana. 

49. Only a sculptor of the finest imagination, the 
most delicate taste, the sweetest feeling, and the rarest 
artistic skill — in a word, a sculptor and a poet, too — 
could have first dreamed of a Faun in this guise, and 
then succeeded in imprisoning the sportive and frisky 
thing in marble, y^;^^ Marble Faun — Nathaniel Hawthorne. 



Read the second thing that Erie has done. 

What explanation is inserted .^ Between what parts 
of the sentence is it inserted .^ 

What thought is appended ? 

Read, omitting the insertions and the appended 
thought. Reread, adding the appended thought. 

Reread, adding the insertions. 

Dashes, single or parenthetical, usually indicate abrupt 
changes in construction or sentiment. — Is it so here .^ 

48. Read many times until the relative thought 
value of the words has been determined upon : pencil; 
ever yet; anything like; true effect; of an ice- 
berg; picture; huge uncouth masses stuck in the sea; 
chief beauty and grandeur; slow stately motion; 
whirling of the snow about their summits; fearful 
groaning and cracking of their parts the picture 
cannot give. 



190 TEACHING TO READ 

50. And while, with care, our mother laid 
The work aside, her steps she stayed 
One moment, seeking to express 
Her grateful sense of happiness 

5 For food and shelter, warmth and health. 
And love's contentment more than wealth, 
With simple wishes (not the weak, 
Vain prayers which no fulfillment seek. 
But such as warm the generous heart, 

10 O'er-prompt to do with Heaven its part) 
That none might lack, that bitter night. 
For bread and clothing, warmth and hght. 

Snow-Bound — John Greenleaf Whittier. 

Read first without the explanator}^ insertion. 
What relation does the inserted portion bear to the 
main thought ? Try to feel the meaning expressed in 

slozUy stately, whirling, cracking, 

49. Observe how important the modifiers are to the 
thought. Sculptors must possess imagination, but 
such a work required the finest imagination ; all have 
taste, but it required the most delicate taste; all have 
feeling, but this required feehng of a special kind, — the 
sweetest feeling; all have skill, but this required the 
rarest artistic skill. 

Faun in this guise. — A Faun was a kind of rural deity in 
Roman mythology. Its form was principally human, but 
with pointed ears and projecting horns, and, sometimes, with 
cloven feet. The Marble Faun referred to in Hawthorne's 
book is the statue by the Greek sculptor Praxiteles. The 
only definite sign of a wild animal nature in that statue is 
the terminating of the ears in little peaks like those of some 
animals, and yet the sculptor has somehow imprisoned in 
the "sportive and frisky thing" all the characteristics of 



STUDIES IN PARENTHETICAL EXPRESSIONS 191 

51. Meanwhile we did our nightly chores, — 
Brought in the wood from out-of-doors, 
Littered the stalls, and from the mows 
Raked down the herd's-grass for the cows ; 
5 Heard the horse whinnying for his corn : 
And, sharpl}^ clashing horn on horn. 
Impatient down the stanchion rows 
The cattle shake their walnut bows ; 
While, peering from his early perch 
10 Upon the scaffold's pole of birch. 
The cock his crested helmet bent 
And down his querulous challenge sent. 

Snow-Bound — John Greenleaf Whittier. 



creatures that dwell in the woods and fields, along with the 
kindred qualities of the human being. The Faun of Praxiteles 
wears a lion's skin. 

Note that the series in sentence 2, No. 48, was in 
the inserted portion ; in No. 49 it is in the main portion. 

50. Is there any reason for pairing the ideas in lines 
5 and 12 .? 

What words are understood in line 6 ? Compare : 

"The poor man is not poor with content, nor the rich man 
rich without it." 

What relation does the parenthetical portion bear to 
the main thought t Ans. It is a negative explanation. 

How did her simple wishes differ from vain prayers? 

" Snow-Bound " is a picture of a New England winter and 
of an old-fashioned American country home. 

51. Meanwhile. — While the storm drew on. 
How many lines explain the chores? 



192 TEACHING TO READ 

52. The jumper is an historical tree, and has been 
the subject of many interesting traditions, — supposed 
by the ancients to yield a shade that was injurious to 
human hfe ; the emblem of faith, because its heart is 
always sound ; the bearer of fruit regarded as a panacea 
for all diseases, and a magic charm which was thrown 
on the funeral pile to protect the spirit of the dead from 
evil, and bound with the leaves to propitiate the deities 
by their incense. It is not improbable that the super- 
stitious notions respecting the power of its fruit to 
heal diseases gave origin to the use of it in the manu- 
facture of certain alcoholic liquors ; and it is a remark- 
able fact that universal belief in its virtues as a panacea 
should have attached to a plant which is now used for 
no important medical purpose whatever save the flavor- 
ing 01 gm . jI Year Among the Trees — Wilson Flagg. 

How many chores are named ? How many are 
inferred ? Are any chores directly named after the 
first semicolon ? 

Stanchion rows. — Stanchions were upright vertical bars to 
which cattle were tied in a stall by means of a wooden bow 
{walnut how). The bow passed around the animal's neck 
and was attached by means of a wooden clasp. This rural 
method of tying cattle may still be found in a few of the 
more rural localities of New England. 

Literary Readings — Charles Madison Curry. 

Explain crested helmet. Meaning of querulous 
challenge ? 

52. Sentence i. Note the use of the comma and 
dash. — Compare with No. 51. 

Have we had any explanatory words or groups of 
words where the comma only was used .? (See No. 30.) 



STUDIES IN PARENTHETICAL EXPRESSIONS 193 

53. All things are double, one against another. — 
^ Tit for tat ; an eye for an eye ; a tooth for a tooth ; 
blood for blood ; measure for measure ; love for love. — 
^ Give and it shall be given you. — ^ He that watereth 
shall be watered himself. — ^ What will you have ? 
quoth God ; pay for it and take it. — ^ Nothing ven- 
ture, nothing have. — ^ Thou shalt be paid exactly 
for that thou hast done, no more, no less. — ^ Who doth 
not work shall not eat. — ^ Harm watch, harm catch. — 
^ Curses always recoil on the head of him who impre- 
cates them. ... It is thus written, because it is thus 

Compensation — Ralph Waldo Emerson 



Do you see any reason for the difference ^ Have we had 
the dash alone ^ (See No. 47 ; 49.) Do you see any 
reason for the difference ^ Variation in punctuation 
always serves to prove that we must search the thought. 

Trace the semicolons and phrase accordingly. It 
was the tree that yielded a shade, and was the emblem 
of faith, and bore the fruit; but it was the /r-z^i^ that was 
regarded as a panacea (a universal remedy), and as a 
magic charm, and was thrown on the funeral file and 
hound with the leaves. So we have semicolons after 
life and sound (main divisions) and only commas after 
diseases and evil (subdivisions). 

Notie that the explanatory portion deals with its 
shade, its heart, and its fruit. 

The fruit was regarded as how many and what things .^ 

How many and what things were done with the 
magic charm? 

53. Into how many leading parts may the paragraph 
be divided .? Ans. Three : a leading statement, a 



194 TEACHING TO READ 

54. Next, the dear aunt, whose smile of cheer 
And voice in dreams I see and hear, 
The sweetest woman ever Fate 
Perverse denied a household mate, 

5 Who, lonely, homeless, not the less 
Found peace in love's unselfishness, 
And welcome whereso'er she went, 
A calm and gracious element. 
Whose presence seemed the sweet income 

10 And womanly atmosphere of home, — 
Called up her girlhood memories. 
The hustings and the apple-bees. 
The sleigh rides and the summer sails. 
Weaving through all the poor details 

IS And homespun warp of circumstance 
A golden woof-thread of romance. 

Snow-Bound — John Greenleaf Whittier. 

series of illustrative expressions, and a concluding 
statement. 

Study the arrangement of the illustrative expressions. 
To begin with, they are arranged in groups separated 
by dashes. Part one contains a series of well-known 
aphorisms with similar meaning. Trace the semicolons. 

Illustration i. An eye for an eye, and a tooth J or a tooth. 
— Matthew 5 .• 38. 

Illustration 2. Give and it shall be given you; good meas- 
ure, pressed down and shaken together. — Luke 6: 38. 

Illustration 3. He that water eth shall be watered also him- 
self. — Proverbs 11 : 25. 

Illustration 8. " // you watch harm, you will catch harm J" 

54. Mr. Whittier describes in a series. 

The dear home faces whereupon 
That fitful firelight paled and shone. 



STUDIES IN PARENTHETICAL EXPRESSIONS 1 95 

Each took his part in contributing to the fireside 
conversation and amusement during the days they 
were shut in. See Nos. 50 and 51. 

Lines i, 2. What do / see? What do / hear? When 
do / see and hear them ? 

Next, the dear aunt did what ? We must go to line 
II for our answer, — Called up, etc. AH that goes 
between is. explanatory and descriptive. Be very 
careful, therefore, of the way in which aunt is left in 
line I. It must be left in such a way that a hearer 
will know that the verb is missing, and Called up must 
be linked with it in such a way (by pause, inflection, 
etc.) that the hearer will recognize the missing verb. 
Between aunt and Called up the aunt is described in, 

whose smile of cheer 
And voice in dreams I see and hear, 

and further described in, 

The sweetest woman ever Fate 
Perverse denied a household mate, 

and still further in, 

Who [the dear aunt], lonely, homeless, not the less 
Found peace in love's unselfishness. 
And welcome whereso'er she went, 

and still further in, 

A calm and gracious element. 

Whose presence seemed the sweet income 

And womanly atmosphere of home. 

Explain Fate perverse. 

Found how many things (fine 6) .? 

What is the meaning of element (line 8) ? 



196 TEACHING TO READ 

55. ^ It happened upon a November evening (when 
I was about fifteen years old, and outgrowing my 
strength very rapidly, my sister Annie being turned 
thirteen, and a deal of rain having fallen, and all the 
troughs in the yard being flooded, and the bark from 
the wood ricks washed down the gutters, and even our 
watershoot going brown) that the ducks in the court 
made a terrible quacking, instead of marching off to 
their pen, one behind another. ^ Thereupon Annie and 
I ran out to see what might be the sense of it. ^ There 
were thirteen ducks and ten lily-white (as the fashion 
then of ducks was), not, I mean, twenty-three in all, 
but ten white and three brown-striped ones ; and with- 
out being nice about their color, they all quacked very 
movingly. ^ They pushed their gold-colored bills here 
and there (yet dirty, as gold is apt to be), and they 
jumped on the triangles of their feet and sounded out 
of their nostrils ; and some of the over-excited ones ran 
along low on the ground, quacking grievously, with 
their bills snapping and bending, and the roof of their 

mouths exhibited. r t^ r. t^ 

Lorna Doone — Richard Blackmore. 



Lines 9, 10. Phrase correctly. Whose presence seemed 
how many things .? What does And, line 10, connect ? 
What does of home modify .? 

Income, incoming. 

One long explanatory portion (lines 3-10) is disposed 
of only to come upon another. What were the girlhood 
memories ? 

Explain the meaning of Hnes 14-16. 

Woof-thread, a thread crossing the warp of a woven fiber. 

55. The style is quaint, and the sentences are loose, 
but the paragraph affords good practice in keeping 



STUDIES IN PARENTHETICAL EXPRESSIONS 197 

56. ^ It was the hour of the slack — but the sea still 
heaved in mountainous waves from the effects of the 
hurricane. ^ I was borne violently into the channel of 
the Strom, and in a few minutes was hurried down the 
coast into the *' grounds" of the fishermen. ^ A boat 
picked me up — exhausted from fatigue — and (now 
that the danger was removed) speechless from the 
memory of its horror. ^ Those who drew me on board 



the main thought clear, and not undervaluing the in- 
serted thoughts. Make it interesting. 

Sentence i. Read the leading thought. 

Read, inserting what is said about "I". 

Read again, inserting also the remark about "my 
sister Annie.'' Remember that Annie is a new charac- 
ter. How does her age compare with his .? 

Read again, adding the parts suggested by rain. 

What contrast do you find in the last part of the 
main thought ? 

Sentence 4. Study the punctuation. Notice the 
semicolon after nostrils. 

With how many ducks does the part of the sentence 
preceding the semicolon deal .? The part following it ? 

The semicolon after nostrils tells us that there are 
two parts to the sentence. With how many thoughts 
does the first part deal ? 

With what thought does the second part deal .? 
Ans. The actions of some of the over-excited ones. 
How many actions are described .? Distinguish be- 
tween what they did and how they did it. 

56. The hour of the slack, the time between the changes 
of the tides. 



198 TEACHING TO READ 

were my old mates and daily companions — but they 
knew me no more than they would have known a 
traveler from the spirit-land. ^ My hair, which had 
been raven black the day before, was as white as you 
see it now. ^ They say, too, that the whole expression 
of my countenance had changed. '' I told them my 
story — they did not beheve it. ^ I now tell it to you — 
and I can scarcely expect you to put more faith in it 
than did the merry fishermen of Lofoden. 

A Descent into the Maelstrom — Edgar Allan Poe. 



What do the dashes in sentences i, 3, 4, 7, and 8 
say, that commas or semicolons would not have said ? 

The Maelstrom, a famous tidal whirlpool off the coast of 
Norway. 

57. This presents not only good studies in inserted 
portions, but also some excellent studies in series : 

So young, so beautiful, so good, — a series of descriptive 
words with repeated modifier. 

Decrepit age, and vigorous life, and blooming youth, 
and helpless infancy, — a series of modified words about 
which the same thing is said. (Connective expressed.) 

On crutches, in the pride of strength and health, in the 
full blush of promise, in the mere dawn of life, — a series 
of phrases modifying in regular order the preceding 
series of words. 

Decrepit age - - on crutches. 

Vigorous life - - in the pride of strength and health. 

Blooming youth - - in the full blush of promise. 

Helpless infancy - - in the mere dawn of life. 

Recognize the relation of the parts as you read. 



STUDIES IN PARENTHETICAL EXPRESSIONS 199 

57. ^ And now the bell — the bell she had so often 
heard, by night and day, and listened to with solemn 
pleasure almost as a living voice — rung its remorse- 
less toll, for her, so young, so beautiful, so good. ^ De- 
crepit age, and vigorous life, and blooming youth, and 
helpless infancy, poured forth — on crutches, in the 
pride of strength and health, in the full blush of prom- 
ise, in the mere dawn of life — to gather round her 
tomb. 

Old men were there, whose eyes were dim and 
senses failing; grandmothers, who might have died 
ten years ago, and still been old ; the deaf, the blind, 
the lame, the palsied, the Hving dead in many shapes 
and forms, were there, to see the closing of that early 
grave. 

Death of Little Nell. Old Curiosity Shop — ■ Charles Dickens. 

Study the sentences separately, also study the main 
thoughts and inserted portions separately. 

I2. A series of modified words about all of which 
the same thing is said. 

Note the variation in form of the modifying portions, 
— sometimes a phrase, sometimes a clause, and some- 
times a single word. 

Observe that in the first part of the series the verb 
is expressed, in the second part it is inferred, in the 
third part five subject words are grouped with the 
[repeated verb. - 

Explain the meaning of the living dead in many shapes 
and forms, ' 

To see the closing of that early grave completes not 
only the thought that the last group were there, but 
also that old men were there, and grandmothers (were 
there). Note the comma preceding it. 



200 TEACHING TO READ 

58. SWEET AUBURN 

From The Deserted Village. 

Sweet Auburn ! loveliest village of the plain, 
Where health and plenty cheered the laboring swain, 
Where smiling spring its earliest visit paid, 
And parting summer's Hngering blooms delayed — 

5 Dear lovely bowers of innocence and ease, 
Seats of my youth, where every sport could please — 
How often have I loitered o'er thy green. 
Where humble happiness endeared each scene ! 
How often have I paused on every charm — 

10 The sheltered cot, the cultivated farm. 
The never-failing brook, the busy mill, 
The decent church that topped the neighboring hill. 
The hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade, 
For talking age and whispering lovers made ! 

15 How often have I blest the coming day, 
When toil remitting lent its turn to play, 
And all the village train, from labor free. 
Led up their sports beneath the spreading tree, 
While many a pastime circled in the shade, 

20 The young contending as the old surveyed ; 
And many a gambol frolicked o'er the ground. 
And sleights of art and feats of strength went round ; 
And still, as each repeated pleasure tired. 
Succeeding sports the mirthful band inspired : 

25 The dancing pair that simply sought renown. 
By holding out, to tire each other down ; 
The swain, mistrustless of his smutted face. 



58. Sweet Auburn, Lishoy, or Lissoy, Ireland, — six miles 
from Athlone. The landowner, General Napier, turned all 
his tenants out of their farms in order that he might inclose 
them in his own private domains. Everything has since 
been restored to correspond to Mr. Goldsmith's description. 



STUDIES IN PARENTHETICAL EXPRESSIONS 20I 

While secret laughter tittered round the place : 
The bashful virgin's side-long looks of love, 
30 The matron's glance that would those looks reprove. 
These were thy charms, sweet village ! sports like 

these. 
With sweet succession, taught e'en toil to please ; 
These round thy bowers their cheerful influence shed, 
These were thy charms — but all these charms are 

"^^ * Oliver Goldsmith. 

Lines 1-7. Sweet Auburn . . . Hozv often have I 
loitered o'er thy green. Whose green? — This helps to 
make plainer the relation of the intervening parts to 
the whole. Trace the modifying ideas of village to 
help to an understanding of those intervening parts : 

village - - loveliest village - - village of the plain 

village - - where health and plenty cheered the laboring 

swain 
village - - where smiling spring its earliest visit paid 
village - - (where) parting summer's lingering blooms delayed 

Note the dash. — What does it say ? Ans. It says 
that something else, more or less loosely related, is to 
be joined on. Is it joined on parenthetically, and is 
the second dash the other half ? Or are the dashes 
to be considered separately and as indicating abrupt 
changes in thought ^ 

What were the dear lovely bowers? Were they the 
places made beautiful b}^ smiling springes earliest visit 
and parting summer s lingering blooms? 

Lines 7-30. Trace the How oftens. They make three 
divisions. 

Division 2. (Lines 9-14.) Recognition of the explan- 
atory series makes it very simple. 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ 14" 



202 TEACHING TO READ 

59. IN CARLYLE'S COUNTRY 
From Fresh Fields. 

In crossing the sea a second time, I was more curious 
to see Scotland than England, partly because I had had 
a good glimpse of the latter country eleven years before, 
but largely because I had always preferred the Scotch 
people to the English (I had seen and known more of 
them in my youth), and especially because just then 
I was much absorbed with Carlyle, and wanted to see 
with my own eyes the land and the race from which he 
sprang. 

There was no road in Scotland or England which I 
should have been so glad to walk over as that from 
Edinburgh to Ecclefechan, — a distance covered many 
times by the feet of him whose birth and burial place 
I was about to visit. Carlyle as a young man had 
walked it with Edward Irving (the Scotch say *^ travel" 
when they mean going afoot), and he had walked it 
alone, and as a lad with an elder boy, on his way to 
Edinburgh college. He says in his ** Reminiscences" 
he nowhere else had such affectionate, sad, thoughtful, 
and, in fact, interesting and salutary journeys. *'No 
company to you but the rustle of the grass under foot, 
the tinkling of the brook, or the voices of innocent, 
primeval things." "I have had days as clear as Italy; 
days moist and dripping, overhung with the infinite 
of silent gray, — and perhaps the latter were the pref- 

Which modifying ideas suggest prosperity .^ 
Division 3. (Lines 15-30.) Substituting and for while 
in line 19 will make relations clearer. 

What does and, line 17, connect ? Line 21 .? 22 ? 23 ? 

What do lines 25-30 explain .? 

To what does these, fine 31, refer .? 

Explain all unusual expressions, such as lines 2, 6, 27. 



STUDIES IN PARENTHETICAL EXPRESSIONS 203 

arable, in certain moods. You could strip barefoot, 
if it suited better ; carry shoes and socks over shoulder, 
hung on your stick ; clean shirt and comb were in your 
pocket; omnia mea mecum porto [all my luggage I 
carry with me]. You lodged with shepherds, who had 
clean, sohd cottages; wholesome eggs, milk, oatmeal 
porridge, clean blankets to their beds, and a great deal 
of human sense and unadulterated natural politeness." 
But as we did not walk, there was satisfaction in 
knowing that the engine which took our train down 
from Edinburgh was named Thomas Carlyle. The 
cognomen looked well on the toiling, fiery-hearted, 
iron-browed monster. I think its original owner would 
have contemplated it with grim pleasure, especially 
since he confesses to having spent some time, once, in 
trying to look up a shipmaster who had named his vessel 
for him. Here was a hero after his own sort, a leader 
by the divine right of the expansive power of steam. 

Not to be entirely cheated out of my walk, I left the 
train at Lockerbie, a small Scotch market town, and 
accompUshed the remainder of the journey to Ec- 
clefechan on foot, a brief six-mile pull. It was the 
first day of June; the afternoon sun was shining 
brightly. It was still the honeymoon of travel with 
me, not yet two weeks in the bonnie land; the road 
was smooth and clean as the floor of a sea beach, and 
firmer, and my feet devoured the distance with right 
good will. The first red clover had just bloomed, as 
I probably should have found it that day had I taken 
a walk at home ; but, hke the people I met, it had a 
ruddier cheek than it has at home. I observed it on 
other occasions, and later in the season, and noted that 
it had more color than in this country, and held its 
bloom longer. All grains and grasses ripen slower 
there than here, the season is so much longer and cooler. 
The pink and ruddy tints are more common in the 
flowers also. The bloom of the blackberry is often 
of a decided pink, and certain white, umbelhferous 



204 TEACHING TO READ 

plants, like yarrow, have now and then a rosy tinge. 
The little white daisy ("gowan," the Scotch call it) 
is tipped with crimson, foretelling the scarlet poppies, 
with which the grain-fields will by and by be splashed. 
Prunella (self-heal), also, is of a deeper purple than with 
us, and a species of cranesbill, like our wild geranium, 
is of a much deeper and stronger color. On the other 
hand, their ripened fruits and foliage of autumn pale 
their ineffectual colors beside our own. 

Among the farm occupations, that which most took 
my eye, on this and on other occasions, was the furrow- 
ing of the land for turnips and potatoes ; it is done 
with such absolute precision. It recalled Emerson's 
statement that the fields in this island look as if finished 
with a pencil instead of a plow, — a pencil and a ruler 
in this case, the lines were so straight and so uniform. 
I asked a farmer at work by the roadside how he man- 
aged it. "Ah," said he, "a Scotchman's head is level." 

Four miles from Lockerbie I came to Mainhill, the 
name of a farm where the Carlyle family lived many 
years. The land drops gently away to the south and 
east, opening up broad views in these directions. The 
Carlyles were living on this farm while their son was 
teaching school at Annan, and later at Kirkcaldy with 
Irving, and they supplied him with cheese, butter, 
ham, oatmeal, etc., from their scanty stores. A new 
farmhouse has been built since then, though the old 
one is still standing. 

From Mainhill the highway descends slowly to the 
village of Ecclefechan, the site of which is marked to 
the eye, a mile or more away, by the spire of the church 
rising up against a background of Scotch firs, which 
clothe a hill beyond. I soon entered the main street 
of the village, which in Carlyle's youth had an open 
burn or creek flowing through the center of it. This 
has been covered over by some enterprising citizen, 
and instead of a loitering little burn, crossed by numer- 
ous bridges, the eye is now greeted by a broad expanse 



STUDIES IN PARENTHETICAL EXPRESSIONS 205 

of small cobblestone. The cottages are for the most 
part very humble, and rise from the outer edges of the 
pavement, as if the latter had been turned up and 
shaped to make their walls. The church is a handsome 
brownstone structure, of recent date, and is more in 
keeping with the fine fertile country about than with 
the little village in its front. In fhe cemetery back of 
it, Carlyle.lies buried. 

The great man lies with his head toward the south or 
southwest, with his mother, sister, and father to the 
right of him, and his brother John to the left. A 
young man and his wife were working a few paces 
from the graves, and I conversed with them through 
a thin place in the hedge. They said they had seen 
Carlyle many times. The young man had seen him 
come in summer and stand, with uncovered head, be- 
side the graves of his father and mother. "And long 
and reverently did he remain there, too," said the 
young gardener. 

I learned this was Carlyle's invariable custom : every 
summer did he make a pilgrimage to this spot, and 
with bared head linger beside these graves. This 
observance recalls a passage from his "Past and Pres- 
ent." Speaking of the religious custom of the Emperor 
of China, he says, "He and his three hundred millions 
(it is their chief punctuality) visit yearly the Tombs of 
their Fathers ; each man the Tomb of his Father and 
his Mother; alone there in silence with what of *wor- 
ship' or of other thought there may be, pauses solemnly 
each man ; the divine Skies all silent over him ; the 
divine Graves, and this divinest Grave, all silent under 
him; the pulsings of his own soul, if he have any soul, 
alone audible. . . . Truly, if a man cannot get some 
glimpse into the Eternities, looking through this portal, 
— through what other need he try it V 

Carlyle's heart was always here in Scotland. A 
vague, yearning homesickness seemed ever to possess 
him. "The Hill I first saw the Sun rise over," he says 



2o6 TEACHING TO READ 

in "Past and Present," ''when the Sun and I and all 
things were yet in their auroral hour, who can di- 
vorce me from it ? Mystic, deep as the world's center, 
are the roots I have struck into my Native Soil; no 
tree that grows is rooted so." 

John Burroughs. (Abridged.) 

Suggestive Questions for Written Review 

1. Give five illustrations of the simplest forms of 
parenthetical expressions. 

2. Give four methods of punctuating inserted por- 
tions. Which one shows that the insertion is by another 
person than the one who spoke or wrote the sentence t 

3. Give four methods of punctuating an appended 
portion. Which one bespeaks an abrupt change in 
sentiment or construction .^ 

4. Name five motives that might lead to insertions. 
Illustrate each. 

5. In what way is No. 14 more difl&cult to read than 
No. 13 .? 

6. (No. 49.) How did the sculptor of the Marble 
Faun differ from the average sculptor 1 

7. (No. 50.) How did her simple wishes differ from 
vain prayers ? 

8. (No. 51.) Which chores are named .? Which ones 
are inferred ^ 

9. (No. 58.) (a) Express the thought of lines 3 and 4 
in your own words. 

(b) Which portion of the description between lines 9 
and 15 suggests a prosperous village ^ 

ID. (No. 59.) Give the meaning of reminiscenceSy 
salutary, primeval, unadulterated, cognomen, honnie, 
umbelliferous, yarrow, precision. 



CHAPTER VIII 
STUDIES IN INTRODUCTORY FORMS 

Introductory expressions may have little or no 
thought value, and they may be exceedingly important. 

Nos. 1-4 present simple types of introductory ex- 
pressions, which add little or nothing to the main 
thought. Well is here a mere expletive, whose use is to 
avoid abruptness ; as I have said before is a degree more 
useful, because it impHes a connection between what 
follows and something that has preceded. Nos. 5-7 
are simple forms of introducing the exact words of a 
speaker, while No. 8 contains an indirect quotation. 
In Nos. 9 and 10, we find the introductory portions 
growing much more important, and if they are taken 
from II and 12, the thoughts are incomplete. 

In No. 16 the topic is introduced by a question, 
while in No. 17 the question is combined with a brief 
contrasting summary of what has already been said. 
Nos. 18 and 19 are formal introductions, and 20 the 
ever-interesting, "Once upon a time." The purpose of 
the introduction in No. 22 is to arouse interest ; while 
Nos. 23 and 24 show that the introductory portion may 
be of so much importance as to stand entirely alone. 

A reader should determine the purpose that an in- 
troductory portion serves, its relative importance to 
the sentence or the selection, and then try to read the 
sentences as naturally as if they were his own. 

207 



208 TEACHING TO READ 



SELECTIONS AND SUGGESTIVE STUDIES 

1. Well, to speak plainly, your habits are your worst 
enemies. 

2. As I have said before, humanity is constitutionally 
lazy. 

3. To make a long story short, the company broke 
up, and returned to the more important concerns of the 
election. p^^p y^^ winkle — Washington Irving. 

4. Now, if there was one quality on which that gentle- 
man prided himself more than on another, it was the 
superiority of his manners. 

5. And he said, A certain man had two sons : And 
the younger of them said to his father. Father, give me 
the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided 
unto them his living. j^^y ^^ . ^^^ ^^ 

6. The question was once put to Aristotle, how we 
ought to behave to our friends ; and the answer he 
gave was, "As we should wish our friends to behave 

*-^ ^^* Aristotle — Diogenes Laertius. 



7. Diogenes, being asked the proper time to marry, 
responded, " For young men, not yet ; and for old men, 
not at all." 



1-4. Test No. I without well. 

What purpose is served by the introductory portions 

in Nos. 2 and 3 ? 

Now, marks or emphasizes transition of thought. 

5-7. Some famihar forms of introducing direct 
quotations. 



STUDIES IN INTRODUCTORY FORMS 209 

8. He gave it for his opinion that "whoever could 
make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow 
upon a spot of ground, where only one grew before, 
would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential 
service to his country than the whole race of politicians 
put together." Gulliver's Travels — Jo^atha^ Swift. 

9. He read on a marble tablet in the chapel wall 
opposite, this singular inscription : 

"Look not mournfully into the Past. It comes not 
back again. Wisely improve the Present. It is thine. 
Go forth to meet the shadowy Future without fear 
and with a manly heart." 

Hyperion — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 

10. It is only necessary to make the experiment to 
find two things : one, how much useful knowledge can 
be acquired in a very little time ; and the other, how 
much time' can be spared, by good management, out 
of the busiest day. 



Diogenes, a Greek cynic philosopher. 

8. Introducing an indirect quotation. 

Phrase correctly. — Not could make tzvo ears of corn 
or tzvo blades of grass, 

9. He. — The hero in Hyperion. 

In the chapel. — In Saint Gilgen, near Munich, 
Germany. 

10. What "lesson" does the paragraph teach } 

Suggestion: If much useful knowledge can he acquired 
in a very little time, and time can he spared, hy good 
management, out of the busiest day, no one need say he 
has no time for self-improvement. Memorize. 



2IO TEACHING TO READ 

11. The true order of learning should be, first, what 
is necessary ; -second, what is useful ; and third, what 
is ornamental. To reverse this arrangement is like 
beginning to build at the top of the edifice. 

Lydia Sigourney. 

12. In order to do this, before I touch upon it directly, 
it will be necessary to lay down a few preliminary 
maxims, viz. : 

That no woman can be handsome by the force of 
features alone, any more than she can be witty only by 
the help of speech. 

That pride destroys all symmetry and grace, and 
affectation is" a more terrible enemy to fine faces than 
the smallpox. 

That no woman is capable of being beautiful, who is 
not capable of being false. 

On the true art and secret of preserving beauty. 

The Spectator. Paper XXXIII — Sir Richard Steele. 

11. Introducing a course of reasoning. The true 
order of learning should he, first .• . . second . . . and 
third. 

Which portion in sentence i corresponds to at the 

top of the edifice ? 

12. It (line i). — See title. 

Which are maxims? Preliminary maxims? 

Why can no woman he handsome by the force of features 
alone ? 

Why is it impossible to be witty only by the help of 
speech ? 

How does pride destroy all symmetry and grace? 
What is symmetry? 

In what way is affectation a more terrible enemy to 



STUDIES IN INTRODUCTORY FORMS 211 

13. This is truth the poet sings, 

That a sorrow's crown of sorrow is remembering 
happier things. 

Locksley Hall — Alfred Tennyson. 

14. Of all sad words of tongue or pen, 

The saddest are these : ''It might have been !" 

Maud Muller — John Greenleaf Whittier. 



fine faces than the smallpox? What is affectation? 

13. There are very informal ways of introducing 
quotations. 

Omit that. — How must the punctuation change ? 

Explain a sorrow's crown of sorrow. 

Explain the quotation. 

The poet sings. — This thought has been expressed 
by many poets, but doubtless Tennyson refers to 
Dante. {Inferno. Canto V.) 
Longfellow's Translation : 

There is no greater sorrow 

Than to be mindful of the happy time 

In misery. 

Gary's Translation : 

No greater grief than to remember days 
Of joy, when misery is at hand. 

Chaucer in " Troilus and Criseyde, Book III " ex- 
presses the same thought, which he also doubtless 
borrowed from Dante : 

For of Fortunis sharp adversite 
The worste kind of infortune is this, 
A man to have been in prosperite, 
And it remembir when it passid is. 

14. A more formally punctuated introduction. 



212 TEACHING TO READ 

15. In words, as fashions, the same rule will hold; 
Alike fantastic, if too new, or old : 

Be not the first by whom the new are tried, 
Nor yet the last to lay the old aside. 

Essay on Criticism. Part II — Alexander Pope. 

16. ^ What is the kingdom of God .^ ^ Every king- 
dom has its exports, its products. ^ Go down to the 
river here and you will find ships coming in with cotton ; 
you know they come from America : you will find ships 
with tea ; you know they come from China : ships 
with wool ; you know they come from Australia : ships 
with sugar ; you know they come from Java. ^ What 
comes from the kingdom of God .^ ^ Again we must 
refer to the Guidebook. ^ Turn to Romans, and we 
shall find what the kingdom of God is. 

A Talk with Boys — Henry Drummond. 

17. Having now shown what cannot save the Union, 
I return to the question with which I commenced, — 
How can the Union be saved .^ There is but one way 
by which it can with any certainty ; and that is, by a 
full and final settlement, on the principle of justice, 
of all the questions at issue between the two sections. 

John Caldwell Calhoun. 



15. What is the rule? 

What are Alike fantastic? Meaning o{ fantastic? 
In what way are new words fantastic? Old ones .? 
New fashions? Old ones .? Be alert for new-or-old. 
Compare the punctuation in Nos. 14, 15, and 16. 

• 16. Trace the line of argument. 

Of what use is sentence 3 .^ Ans. It is an illustration. 
Note its punctuation. 



STUDIES IN INTRODUCTORY FORMS 213 

18. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your 

ears ; 
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. 
The evil that men do lives after them. 
The good is oft interred with their bones ; 
So let it be with Caesar. 

Julius Ccssar. Act III. Scene II — William Shakespeare. 

19. Most potent, grave, and reverend signiors. 
My very noble and approv'd good masters. 
That I have ta'en awa}^ this old man's daughter 
Is most true ; true, I have married her ; 

The very head and front of my offending 
Hath this extent, no more. 

Othello. Act I. Scene III — William Shakespeare. 



Guidebook. — The Bible. 

" The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink ; but right- 
eousness, and peace, and joy." Romans 14: 17. 

17. How is this introduction a step more difficult 
than that in No. 16 \ 

What introductory portion do 3^ou find in sentence 2 1 

A full and final settlement of what .^ 

18. From Antony's speech over the body of Caesar. 
Observe the brevity of expression in line 2 ; the 

contrast (positive opposed to negative). 

Compare with the introduction to No. 32, Chap. I. 

19. Othello is a warrior, accustomed to command. 
His dignity is manifest in his choice of words. 

Head and front, the most prominent and important feature 
or part. 



214 TEACHING TO READ 

20. Once upon a time, long before any of you chil- 
dren were born, — about two hundred and fifty years 
ago in fact, — a little boy stood one morning at the 
door of a palace in Florence, and looked about him. 
Why he was standing there I do not know. Perhaps 
he was watching for the butcher or the milkman, for 
he was a kitchen-boy in the household of a rich and 
mighty cardinal. Charlotte Adams. 

21. "Know old Cambridge ? Hope you do. — 

Born there ? Don't say so ! I was, too. 
Born in a house with a gambrel roof, — 
Standing still, if you must have proof.'' 
Yes, it was in the old gambrel-roofed house looking out 
on the College Green, lived Rev. Dr. Abiel Holmes — 
pastor of the First Church in Cambridge, Massachu- 
setts, but of wider fame as the author of the American 
Annals, — and there was born to him the son, Oliver 
Wendell, who was to shed luster on the name, and take 
rank as the brightest of American poets and essayists. 

22. ^ There is a chapter in the natural history of 
animals that has hardly been touched upon as yet, 
and that will be especially interesting with reference 
to families. ^ The voices of animals have a family 



20. A form too familiar to overlook. 

Read the story in a manner that you think would be 
interesting to children. 

21. The introductory quotation is from "Parson 
Turell's Legacy," by Oliver Wendell Holmes. 

Gambrel roof, a roof having a double slope, the lower of 
which is the steeper, so that each gable has five corners or 
angles. (For illustration, see Dictionary.) 



STUDIES IN INTRODUCTORY FORMS 215 

character not to be mistaken. ^ All the Canidae bark 
and howl, — the fox, the wolf, the dog, have the same 
kind of utterance, though on a somewhat different 
pitch. ^ All the bears growl, from the white bear of 
the Arctic snows to the small black bear of the Andes. 
^ All the cats meow, from our quiet fireside companion 
to the Hons and tigers and panthers of the forest and 
jungle. ^ This last may seem a strange assertion; but 
to anyone who has listened critically to their sounds 
and analyzed their voices, the roar of the lion is but a 
gigantic meow, bearing about the same proportion 
to that of a cat as its stately and majestic form does 
to the smaller, softer, more peaceful aspect of the 
cat. ^ Yet, notwithstanding the difference in their 
size, who can look at the lion, whether in his more 
sleepy mood, as he lies curled up in the corner of his 
cage, or in his fiercer moments of hunger or of rage, 
without being reminded of a cat ? ^ And this is not 
merely the resemblance of one carnivorous animal to 
another; for no one was ever reminded of a dog or 
wolf by a lion. 

Methods of Study in Natural History — Louis Agassiz. 



22. An introduction tending to arouse interest. 

Of what use is sentence 2 in the discussion .^ 

What relation do sentences 3, 4, and 5 bear to sen- 
tence 2 .? 

What relation does 'sentence 6 bear to sentence 5 .^ 

In what way are the thoughts connected by the first 
hut, in sentence 6, opposite ? 

What is the meaning and use of yet (sentence 7) } 

Review the use of whether . . . or. 

What relation does sentence 7 bear to sentence 6 ^ 
Sentence 8 to sentence 7 .? Review /or. 



2l6 TEACHING TO READ 

23. ^ There is one accomplishment, in particular, 
which I would earnestly recommend to you. ^ Cul- 
tivate assiduously the ability to read well . . . . 
^ Where one person is really interested by music, twenty 
are pleased by good reading. ^ Where one person is 
capable of becoming a skillful musician, twenty may 
become good readers. ^ Where there is one occasion 
suitable for the exercise of musical talent, thfere are 
twenty for that of good reading. j^^^ s^^ley Hart. 

24. A FAREWELL 

My fairest child, I have no song to give you; 

No lark could pipe to skies so dull and gray; 
Yet, ere we part, one lesson I can leave you 
For every day. 

Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever ; 

Do noble things, not dream them, all day long; 
And so make life, death, and that vast forever 

One grand, sweet song. Charles Kingsley. 



23. What is gained by the entire separation of sen- 
tences I and 2 ^ 

Place a comma and dash after sentence i and notice 
how it will cause the mind to reach forward, detracting 
from the importance of what has preceded. 

Before you disagree with the speaker, study his 
choice of comparative words : really interested - - 
pleased; skillful musician - - good reader. 

24. Similar to No. 23. 
Memorize. 

25. A series of introductory parts. 
What is a toast \ 



STUDIES IN INTRODUCTORY FORMS 21 7 

25. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN'S TOAST 

At the conclusion of the American Revolution, Dr. 
FrankHn, the EngUsh ambassador, and the French 
minister, Vergennes, dining together at Versailles, a 
toast from each was called for and agreed to. 

The British minister began with: "George III — 
who, like the sun in his meridian, spreads a luster 
throughout and enlightens the world." 

The French minister followed with : "The illustrious 
Louis XVI — who, Uke the moon, sheds his mild and 
benignant rays on and influences the globe." 

Our American Franklin then gave: "George Wash- 
ington, Commander of the American Army — who, 
like Joshua of old, commanded the sun and moon to 
stand still, and they obeyed him." 

Notice that the punctuation of the first paragraph 
J is unsatisfactory. One may need to scan the para- 
-^ graph following and decide upon the grouping from the 
context. A reader unfamiliar with the names, and 
relying wholly upon the punctuation, might be excused 
for grouping Dr. Franklin {the English Ambassador) 
and the French Minister {Vergennes) [ver'zhenT 

George III, King of England. 

Louis XVI, King of France. It was during his reign that 
the French people, driven to desperation through poverty 
and hunger and oppression, revolted and took the govern- 
ment into their own hands. Then followed the French 
Revolution with its fearful scenes of anarchy and bloodshed, 
during which Louis XVI was thrown into prison. His igno- 
rance of or indifference to the wants of the people was denom- 
inated treason, and he was put to death. 

Joshua of old, see Joshua 10 : 12-14. 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ — I5 



21 8 TEACHING TO READ 

26. PREAMBLE OF THE DECLARATION OF 
INDEPENDENCE 

When, in the course of human events, it becomes 
necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands 
which have connected them with another, and to as- 
sume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and 
equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's 
God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of 
mankind requires that they should declare the causes 
which impel them to the separation. 

^ We hold these truths to be self-evident : that all 
men are created equal ; that they are endowed by their 
Creator with certain unalienable rights ; that among 
these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 
2 That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted 
among men, deriving their just powers from the consent 
of the governed ; that, whenever any form of govern- 
ment becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right 
of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a 
new government, laying its foundation on such prin- 
ciples, and organizing its powers in such form, as to 
them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and 
happiness. ^ Prudence, indeed, will dictate that gov- 
ernments long established should not be changed for 
light and transient causes ; and, accordingly, all ex- 
perience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed 
to suffer, while evils are sufFerable, than to right them- 
selves by abolishing the forms to which they are ac- 
customed. But, when a long trairt of abuses and usur- 
pations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces 
a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it 
is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such govern- 
ment, and to provide new guards for their future se- 
curity. Such has been the patient sufferance of these 
colonies ; and such is now the necessity which con- 
strains them to alter their former systems of govern- 
ment. The history of the present King of Great 



STUDIES IN INTRODUCTORY FORMS 



219 



Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, 
all having in direct object the establishment of an 
absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let 
facts be submitted to a candid world. 



26. Preamble, the introductory part of a statute, which 
states the reasons and intent of the law. 

It was the preamble of the Declaration of Independence 
that elected Lincoln. Moses Coit Tyler. 

T[2. Sentence i. We hold these truths to he — what ^. 
Ans. First, evident. Evident — how .^ Ans. Self-evi- 
dent ; i.e., plain in themselves ; requiring no support- 
ing argument. 

What particular truths do they hold to be self-evident? 
To what do these truths refer .^ 

Into how many parts may the explanation be divided.? 

Part i. How many men? Are created — how .f* 
Equal by what indisputable right t Accept no reading 
as correct that does not bring out all the ideas, and let 
both teacher and pupils judge. 

Part 2. They are endowed with what t Ans. First, 
with rights; second, with unalienable rights (rights 
that cannot be taken from them; cannot be sold or 
transferred). 

Endowed by what indisputable authority \ 

Part 3. What relation does part 3 bear to part 2 1 

Why not life, liberty, and happiness? 

Sentence 2. Part i. These what ? What rights? 

Why are governments instituted? Define instituted. 

Why is it self-evident that a government should be 
credited with powers? What kind o{ powers? 

Whence do they derive their powers? 



220 TEACHING TO READ 

Part 2. When may any form of government be 
changed ? Destructive o/what ends? 

What choice do the governed have regarding such a 
law ? Phrase correctly. 

to alter 



It is the right of the people 



or It 

to abolish 

and 
to institute a new government, etc. 



Why not as will efect their safety and happiness? 

With what general subject does sentence i deal } 
Sentence 2 .? 

Continue the study of the selection, tracing care- 
fully the explanatory portions and applying the prin- 
ciples thus far set forth. 

Suggestive Questions for Written Review 

1. Quote an example of an unimportant introductory 
form and of an important one. 

2. (No. 12.) yi^2imr\g o{ maxims ? Preliminary max- 
ims? State in your own words the truth of ^2. 

3. (No. 15.) Quote the rule. In what way are 
fashions fantastic {{too new? 

4. (No. 16.) Quote the illustration found therein. 

5. What two purposes are served by sentence i, 
No. 17 .? 

6. (No. 22.) Of what use in the paragraph are sen- 
tences I and 2 t What relation do sentences 3, 4, and 
5 bear to sentence 2 t Sentence 6 to 5 .? 

7. (No. 25.) What is a toast? Who was George III? 
Louis XVI? Joshua of old? 

8. (No. 26.) {a) 1[2. Give the meaning of unalienable 
rights; transient causes; absolute despotism; patient 
sufferance. 

{b) What is the purpose of a preamble ^. 



CHAPTER IX 
STUDIES IN QUOTATIONS 

Under the above title, attention is called not only to 
illustrations of direct and indirect quotations as used in 
conversation, but also to the variety of selections show- 
ing other uses of this literary form. Much of the 
material of the former class might have been placed in 
the preceding chapter with propriety because each illus- 
tration is plainly divided into the introduction to. the 
quotation and the quotation itself. The proper manner 
of reading the latter can be determined either from the 
thought it expresses or from the context. 

The reading of quotations other than direct speech 
is difficult to explain through the medium of the prmted 
page. Just as the printed quotation marks block off 
the quoted parts for the eye of the reader, something 
in the manner of the oral reading must perform the 
same service for the ears of the hearer. Listening to 
successful readers, it may be observed that the effect 
is accomplished in one or more of the following ways : 

A shght pause before or after the quoted parts. 

A noticeable change in melody, or facial expression. 

A change in pitch. A change in rate. 

Careful emphasis. 

A touch of impersonation. 

Such famiUarity with the text as enables the reader 
to look at his hearers, real or imagined. 

In the employment of whatever means the text may 



221 



222 TEACHING TO READ 

suggest, it should be the aim of a reader to present a 
quotation in such a way that hearers not alone may 
notice that it is quoted, but that they must notice it, 
even as they would notice the printed quotation marks, 
were they reading for themselves. 

Pedagogical Introduction 

One of the most effective agents in reading passages 
containing quoted parts is the eye, and such material 
affords excellent practice in "looking off the book." 
What teacher is not familiar with the painful efforts 
of pupils to accomplish this feat, and with the strained, 
awkward, uneasy, mechanical results ! What teacher 
cannot recall the jerky lifting of the head, the staring 
eyes, the quick return, the "lost place.'' Not a few 
of us can still remember our own first efforts, — when 
the knowledge of what was expected of us harrowed our 
souls ; when we tried to clutch enough words ahead to 
allow time to look off; when the gluing of our eyes to 
the page seemed to draw weights to the back of our 
neck ; when our head came up with a jerk, and our 
heart with a bound ; when a moment was a year, the 
familiar objects a blur, and the return was confusion, — 
for we had lost our place. 

Taking a look backward at that experience, what was 
it we needed ? We needed first, as beginners in the 
art of "looking off the book," to know our text, and 
that the text should not be too long. Then it was 
supremely necessary that we should have a reason, 
not for looking off our book, but for looking at our 
hearers. 

Suppose the reader is beginning a new selection, a 



STUDIES IN QUOTATIONS 223 

new paragraph, a new topic. He wishes to engage 
and hold the attention of his hearers from the very 
start. Now people always like to be talked to better 
than they like to be read to, provided, of course, 
that the talker and the reader and the material used 
by each are equally good. The reader will therefore 
catch and hold the attention of his hearers better if he 
speaks the opening clause or sentence just as he would 
speak it in conversation, looking frankly into their 
faces, and saying it with spirit and interest. Besides 
it is " polite " for a reader to pay some attention to his 
hearers, as well as for them to pay attention to him. 

Or, suppose there is a particular point that he wishes 
them to get. The very best way to make them get 
it is to say it directly to them. Besides, he cannot 
know whether they have got the point or not unless he 
looks into their faces to see. Or, there is a dialogue 
part that cannot be given naturally unless the speaker 
looks at some one. To do so he must raise his head 
and look directly at his real or imagined hearer. 

This brings us to another point. Much of the pupil's 
reading should be done standing before the class. Place 
him where he can realize that he is reading to some one. 
Give himthespurof responsibility and coming judgment. 
But see to it also that the class is seated in such a way 
that no wasteful amount of time is lost in passing to and 
from the place for reading. Insist that pupils practice 
on this point when preparing lessons at home. Insist 
that, if they do not have a chance to read to some 
one, they practice on empty chairs, imagining that 
each contains a hearer to be interested, instructed, or 
entertained. 



224 



TEACHING TO READ 



SELECTIONS AND SUGGESTIVE STUDIES 



1. Well, it was a ** surprise," as the President ex- 
pressed it. 

2. *'Let me make the ballads of a nation," said 

Fletcher of Saltoun, **and I care not who makes its 

1 " 
laws. 

1. Surprise can be uttered in such a way that the 
hearer will surmise that it is a quoted word even be- 
fore the text makes it plain. To aid correct expression, 
precede the reading by reciting, "The President said 
it was a surprise." 

2. Into how many parts may the sentence be divided ? 
Ans. Two : what Fletcher says and what the story- 
teller says. 

Which of the two characters does the reader most 
naturally become 1 Ans. The story-teller. Which 
part must be imagined .^ Ans. Fletcher^s. 

How many hearers are needed for the sentence .? 
Ans. At least two : Fletcher's hearer and the story- 
teller's hearer or hearers. Which ones can the class most 
naturally become } Ans. The story-teller's. Which 
hearers must be imagined .^ Ans. Fletcher's. Where 
shall we imagine them .^ Suggestive Ans. Toward the left. 

According to the arrangement of the thought, the 
reader must first speak for Fletcher, then for the story- 
teller, and then again for Fletcher. Where will you 
find Fletcher's hearers ? Ans. On the left. Will 
they be sitting or standing (a very necessary considera- 
tion in directing the "natural gaze") } Where will 
you find the story-teller's hearers ^. 



STUDIES IN QUOTATIONS 225 

3. Theodore Parker said that Democracy meant, not 
"I'm as good as you are," but '^You're as good as I am." 

4. The American doctrine was that a foreigner 
naturahzed became an American citizen ; the British, 
*'Once an Enghshman, alwa3^s an Enghshman." 

5. Washington said : ^*I hope I shall always possess 
firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider 
the most enviable of all titles, the character of an 
^honest man.'" 



Would there be a difference in Fletcher's voice and 
the story-teller's voice ^ In their manner .? 

What are ballads? Why can people be reached 
better through ballads than through laws? 

"Pudd'nhead Maxims," by Mark Twain, has it, — "Let 
me make the superstitions of a nation and I care not who 
makes its laws or its songs, either.'' 

3. The difference in the spirit of the two quotations 
is the striking feature.- 

4. Inserted to teach the force of the direct quotation 
as compared with the indirect. 

Would it be more effective if the indirect portion 
were direct .^ — Test. 

Test also with the direct made indirect, and weigh 
the effect. 

5. A quotation within a quotation. 
Note the seriousness of the speaker. 

Remember that it is not enough that a pupil look 
at you. He must have a reason for looking. Find 
out his reason for choosing the particular portion of 
the text that he uses. 



226 TEACHING TO READ 

6. The characteristic pecuHarity of "Pilgrim's Prog- 
ress" is, that it is the only work of its kind that 
possesses a strong human interest. 

7. Cambridge was the home of three noted writers : 
Holmes, who is known as "The Autocrat"; Lowell, 
whose quaint Yankee humor sparkles in "The Biglow 
Papers;" and the gentle author of "Evangeline," our 
loved and lamented Longfellow. 

8. The song "Home, Sweet Home" is from the opera 
"Clari; or the Maid of Milan," written by John 
Howard Payne, an American dramatist and actor, who 
was born in New York, June 9, 1792, and died in Tunis, 
Africa, April 10, 1852. 

9. When in 1778 the English commissioners ap- 
proached General Reed of Pennsylvania and offered 
him ten thousand guineas and high honors if he would 



6. People are so familiar with some titles that little 
or no effort need be expended in showing that the words 
are quoted. 

7. An explanatory series, each part of which con- 
tains a quoted title, — familiar, but important. 

Are these writers best known to-day by the literary 
productions named ? 

8. Observe that there is no comma after either song 
or opera. They are descriptive titles, and not explana- 
tory ; as. The poet Longfellow, which is not like, Mr. 

LongfelloWy the poet. 

9. Which ideas are deserving of special attention .? 
Suggestive Ans. The name of the honest man ; the 



STUDIES IN QUOTATIONS 227 

exert his influence to effect a reconciliation, he replied, 
"I am not worth purchasing, but such as I am, the 
king of England is not rich enough to buy me." 

ID. Samuel Slater, who came to this country from 
England in 1789, was the first person to establish the 
manufacture of cotton in the United States. Moses 
Brown, a Rhode Island Quaker, wrote to him : " If 
thou canst do this thing [set up a cotton mill], I invite 
thee to come to Rhode Island, and have the credit of 
introducing cotton manufacture into America." 

Mr. Slater was just the man who could **do this 
thing;" and, trusting wholly to his memory to con- 
struct the complicated machinery required, he started 
a mill at Pawtucket in 1790, which proved an entire 
success. 

Leading Facts of American History — D. H. Montgomery. 

1 1 . Grow old along with me ! 

The best is yet to be. 
The last of life, for which the first was made : 



attractiveness of the bribe; the action asked of General 
Reed ; his reply as a whole ; and the high position of 
the wealthy person quoted. 

Which one or ones will you choose for special direct- 
ness of utterance .? Do not let it be a matter of merely 
looking up somewhere. 

ID. At least half a dozen points of particular interest 
might be chosen here, and several of them used. 
Who says, set up a cotton mill? 

II. Why Grow old along with me? 

To what does the best refer .^ The first what \ 



228 TEACHING TO READ 

Our times are in His hand 
Who saith, "A whole I planned, 
Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, 
nor be afraid !" 

Rabbi Ben Ezra — Robert Browning. 

12. I pray the prayer of Plato old : 

God make thee beautiful within. 
And let thine eyes the good behold 
In everything save sin ! 

My Namesake — John Greenleaf Whittier. 

Our times are in whose hand? Ans. His hand who 
saith, etc. 
Memorize. 

" Rabbi Ben Ezra '' is one of about sixty poems in which 
Mr. Browning gives utterance to the thoughts and feelings 
of persons other than himself. 

In " Sordello," he says he makes them speak as they were 
wont to do " myself kept out of view," and in dedicating a 
number of such poems to his wife, he writes in "'One Word 
More " of the method : 

"Love, you saw me gather men and women. 
Live or dead or fashioned by my fancy, * 

Enter each and all, and use their service, 
Speak from every mouth, — the speech, a poem." 
Rabbi Ben Ezra, was a real person, — a profound 
Jewish scholar and Old Testament commentator of the 
Middle Ages. 

12. An apparently direct quotation without quo- 
tation marks. What does the absence of the marks 
tell us .? 

Plato, a Greek philosopher before the time of Christ. 



STUDIES IN QUOTATIONS 229 

13. "The proper study of mankind is man ;" 
The most perplexing one, no doubt, is woman. 

Boys — John Godfrey Saxe. 

14. I held it truth, with him who sings 

To one clear harp in divers tones, 
That men may rise on stepping-stones 
Of their dead selves to higher things. 

In Memoriam — Alfred Tennyson. 

15. From a child I was fond of reading, and all the 
little money that came into my hands was ever laid 
out in books. Pleased with the Pilgrim's Progress, 
my first collection was John Bunyan's works, in separate 
little volumes. I afterward sold them to enable me to 



13. Nothing but the marks to show that a portion is 
quoted. 

Perplexing what ? 

Do you like the alliteration in proper and perplexing? 
Compare Nos. 1 1-13. In which is it hardest to make 
the quoted portion plain for a hearer .? 

Know then thyself, presume not God to scan ; 
The proper study of mankind is man. , 

An Essay on Man. Epistle II — Alexander Pope. 

14. Quoting the thought of another, but expressing 
it in original form. 

Him — " As far as I recollect, I referred to Goethe." 

Alfred Tennyson. (In a letter written in 1880.) 

Divers tones. — The thought repeated in many forms. 

15. The quoted titles should stand out clearly. 
Do not undervalue them and they, sentence 3. 



230 



TEACHING TO READ 



buy R. Burton's Historical Collections ; they were small 
chapmen's books, and cheap, forty or fifty in all. . . . 
Plutarch's Lives I read abundantly, and I still think 
that time spent to great advantage. There was also 
a book of De Foe's, called An Essay on Projects, and 
another of Dr. Mather's called Essays to do Good, 
which perhaps gave me a turn of thinking that had an 
influence on some of the principal events of my life. 
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin — Edited by John Bigelow. 

1 6. ^The debt we owe to books was well expressed 
by Richard de Bury, Bishop of Durham, author of 
"Philobiblon," written as long ago as 1344, and the 
earliest English treatise on the dehghts of literature : 
"These," he says, " are the masters who instruct us with- 
out rods and ferules, without hard words and anger, 
without clothes or money. ^ If you approach them, 
they are not asleep ; if, investigating, you interrogate 
them, they conceal nothing ; if you mistake them, they 
never grumble ; if you are ignorant, they cannot laugh 
at you. ^ The Hbrary, therefore, of wisdom is more 
precious than all rubies, and nothing that can be wished 
for is worthy to be compared with it. ^ Whoever, 

Plutarch's Lives. — Of the great men of Greece and Rome. 
How many books gave him a turn of thinking? 

16. What are the two main parts in sentence I } 
Of what subject does *'Philobiblon" treat .? What is 
the author discussing in sentence i .^ 

Sentence 3. Compare Proverbs 8 : 11 : 

For wisdom is better than rubies ; and all the things that 
may be desired are not to be compared to it. 

Sentence 4. What is a zealous follower? 

Why must a zealous follower of truth make himself a 
lover of hooks? A zealous follower of happiness? 



STUDIES IN QUOTATIONS 23 1 

therefore, acknowledges himself to be a zealous fol- 
lower of truth, of happiness, of wisdom, of science, or 
even of faith, must of necessity make himself a lover 
of books." ^ But if the debt were great then, how 
much more now. 

The Pleasures of Life — Sir John Lubbock. 

17. ^ The Chief Justice, on whose opinion hung the 
fate of so many hundreds of innocent famihes, insisted 
that the French inhabitants [of Acadia] were to be 
looked upon as confirmed "rebels;" who had now 
s collectively and without exception become "re- 
cusants." ^ Besides, they still counted in the vil- 
lages "eight thousand" souls, and the Enghsh not 
more than "three thousand ;" they stood in the way 
of "the progress of the settlement;" "by their non- 
10 compHance with the conditions of the treaty of 
Utrecht, they had forfeited their possessions to the 
crown;" after the departure of the fleet and troops 
"the province would not be in a condition to drive 
them out." ... ^ So he advised "against receiving 
15 any of the French inhabitants to take the oath," and 
for the removal of " all" of them from the province. 
History of the United States — George Bancroft. 

Sentence 5. Then. — When .? Why much more now? 
Make plain for your hearer where the long quotation 
begins, and also that the last sentence is not quoted. 

17. While one pupil reads, have the others judge 
whether or not any one would know from the manner 
of reading that the inserted quotations were spoken or 
written by the Chief Justice and not by Mr. Bancroft. 

Correctly value opinion; also the large number of 
people represented by hundreds of families, and notice 
that they were innocent. 



232 TEACHING TO READ 

1 8. Longfellow lived beyond the allotted years of 
man, the ^'threescore and ten" of the Psalmist, yet 
his busy brain and untiring hand wrought on as in 
changeless youth and vigor. On the 27th of February, 
1882, was celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday, and 
on the 24th of March the land thrilled at the solemn 
words: "Longfellow died to-day!" Alas! we had 
almost thought him immortal. 

And is he not immortal ? When we consider that 
long life of beauty and beneficence, the noble, happy, 
enduring work done by our poet, his unsullied purity 
of thought and word, we may tenderly, yet reverently 
remember him as "long-loved, and for a season gone," — 

" One of the few, the immortal names, 
That were not born to die! " 

The Youth's Companion. 

* : 

The Chief Justice . . . insisted — what .^ Phrase 
correctly. 

Note the force of without exception. Meaning of 
recusants ? 

Hundreds of innocent families equaled how many 
people } (See line 7.) 

Their non-compliance . — Not taking the oath of alle- 
giance to England. 

Sentence 3. Do not undervalue advised, against, 
receiving, any, removal, of "all" of them, province, 

18. The closing quotations are from the poem 
"Marco Bozzaris." 

19. The opposite in position to No. 18 : an introduc- 
tory quotation instead of a concluding one. 

Act well your part. — "All the world's a stage." (Page 
129.) 



STUDIES IN QUOTATIONS 233 

19. "Honor and shame from no conditions rise; 
Act well your part, there all the honor lies. 

Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow; 
The rest is all but leather or prunello." 

5 The author of these oft-quoted lines was physically 
deformed, and all his life fought disease. Johnson 
tells us : "He was so weak as to be unable to rise to 
dress himself without help. He was so sensitive to 
cold that he had to wear a kind of fur doublet under 

10 a coarse linen shirt ; one of his sides was contracted, 
and he could scarcely stand upright until he was 
laced into a bodice made of stiff canvass ; his legs 
were so slender that he had to wear three pairs of 
stockings, which he was unable to draw on and off 

15 without help. His seat had to be raised to bring 
him on a level with a common table." — And yet 
he lived to be fifty-six years of age, became a leader 
in the contemporary world of letters, numbered 
among his friends the most noted men of his time, 

20 and is to-day rated as the most famous English poet 
of the first half of the eighteenth century. 



The author. — Pope. See page 487, No. 27. 

Fellow. — In this sense an appellation of contempt; 
a man without good breeding; an ignoble man. 

Leather or prunello. — Outside covering; leather for 
an apron ; prunello {or prunella) , a prune-colored woolen 
stuff, then in use for clergymen's gowns. 

In the omitted lines the poet refers to the small difference 
which clothing should make in estimating the real worth of man. 
The difference between men does not lie in the fact that the 
" cobbler is aproned, the parson gowned, the friar hooded, 
and the monarch crowned," — Worth makes the man. 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ l6 



234 TEACHING TO READ 

20. ^ General Wolfe was a great admirer of the poet 
Gray. ^ As he went the rounds for the final inspection 
on the beautiful starlight evening before the attack 
on Quebec, he remarked to those in the boat with him, 
"I would rather be the author of 'The Elegy in a 
Country Churchyard' than to have the glory of beating 
the French to-morrow"; and amid the rippling of the 
water and the dashing of the oars, he repeated : 

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, 

And ail that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave. 

Await alike the inevitable hour : 

The paths of glory lead but to the grave. 

^ In the impetuous attack made by the French at 
daybreak on the following morning Wolfe was twice 
wounded, but he still pushed forward. ^ A third ball 
struck him. ^ He was carried to the rear. ^ "They 
run ! They run !" exclaimed the officer on whom he 
leaned. ^ "Who run .^" he faintly gasped. ^ "The 
French,'' was the reply. ^ "Now God be praised, I die 
happy," murmured the expiring hero. 

Montcalm, too, was fatally wounded as he was vainly 
trying to rally the fugitives. On being told by the 
surgeon that he could not live more than twelve hours, 
he answered, "So much the better. I shall not see 
the surrender of Quebec." 

A Brief History of the United States — Barnes. 

20. Sentences 6-9. The manner of reading is in- 
dicated in the context. 

Explain The boast of heraldry ; the pomp of power. 
The inevitable hour. — Of death. 

21. \ I. The proverb. — Proverbs 22 : 2g. 

Lord Chatham (chat' ^m), William Pitt, prime minister 
of England (1757-1761), and friend of the American colonies, 
in behalf of whom some of his most impassioned speeches 



STUDIES IN QUOTATIONS 235 

21. ^ It is said that from childhood FrankHn de- 
lighted to repeat the proverb of Solomon : "Seest thou 
a man diligent in his business ? he shall stand before 
kings ; he shall not stand before mean men." ^ He 
obeyed this proverb : he was dihgent ; and at last he 
stood before the royalty of Europe and received the 
public praises of Lord Chatham. 

^ At the advanced age of eighty-four, his great life- 
work done, "he was gathered to his fathers." ^ Upon 
the motion of James Madison, Congress adopted a 
resolution declaring that "his native genius was not 
more an ornament to human nature than his various 
exertions of it have been to science, to freedom, and to 
his country." ^ Lord Brougham declared, "One of the 
most remarkable men of our times as a politician, or of 
any age as a philosopher, was Franklin ; who stands 
alone in combining these two characters, the greatest 
that man can sustain, and in this, that, having borne 
the first part in enlarging science by one of the greatest 
discoveries evermade, he bore the second part in found- 
ing one of the greatest empires in the world." 

Benjamin Franklin — Hiram Washington Thomas. 



were made in the House of Lords. It was for him that 
Pittsburgh was named, 

11 2. Sentence 2. Meaning of native genius? In 
what way is native genius an ornament to human nature? 

How did Franklin exert his native genius for science? 
Yor freedom? For his country? 

S ENTENCE 3 . Lord Brougham (broo' dm) , an English states- 
man, author, and scholar. 

What marked him as a politician? As ?i philosopher? 

To what does these two characters refer ^. 

Is the comma after sustain rhetorically sufficient } 



236 TEACHING TO READ 

22. ^ On the Fourth of July, 1776, the representatives 
of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, 
declared that these United Colonies are, and of right 
ought to be, free and independent States. ^ This 
declaration, made by most patriotic and resolute men, 
trusting in the justice of their cause and the protection 
of Heaven, and yet not without deep solicitude and 
anxiety, - — has stood for seventy-five years, and still 
stands. ... 

^ If Washington were now among us, — and if he 
could draw around him the shades of the great public 
men of his own day, patriots and warriors, orators and 
statesmen, and were to address us in their presence, 
would he not say to us : "Ye men of this generation, I 
rejoice and thank God for being able to see that our 
labors and toils and sacrifices were not in vain. ^ You 
are prosperous, you are happy, you are grateful ; the 
fire of liberty burns brightly and steadily in your hearts, 
while Duty and Law restrain it from bursting forth in 
wild and destructive conflagration. ^ Cherish liberty, 
as you love it; cherish its securities, as you wish to 
preserve it. ^ Maintain the Constitution which we 
labored so painfully to establish, and which has been 
to you such a source of inestimable blessings. ^ Pre- 
serve the Union of the States, cemented as it was by 
our prayers, our tears, and our blood. ^ Be true to 
God, your country, and your duty." 

A Fourth of July Oration (185 1) — Daniel Webster. 

Can you read omitting that? (After this,) 

What was the great discovery? 

What is the meaning of empire^ as here used } To 
what empire does the author refer .? How did Franklin 
bear a part in founding it '^. 

Glib utterance of references that are not understood 
cannot be called intelhgent reading. 



STUDIES IN QUOTATIONS 237 

23. GLIMPSES OF SAMUEL JOHNSON 

From a review of The Life of Samuel Johnson hy James 
Boswell, in The Best Fifty Books of the Greatest Authors. 

^ In 1773, in company with Boswell, he [Samuel 
Johnson] made a tour to the highlands of Scotland and 
the Hebrides ; and each of them afterwards pubhshed 
an account of the trip. ^ Later in Hfe Johnson said 
of his tour that he got an acquisition of more ideas by 
it than by anything that he remembered. ^ Of books 
of travel he once remarked: "They will be good in 
proportion to what a man has previously in his mind ; 
his knowing what to observe ; his power of contrasting 
one mode of hfe with another. ^ As the Spanish proverb 
says: 'He who would bring home the wealth of the 
Indies must carry the wealth of the Indies with him,' 
so it is in traveUng. ^ A man must carry knowledge 



22. 1[ I. Compare the date in line i with that of the 
speech and also with seventy-five years. 

How much of sentence i is a direct quotation } 
(See No. 6, page 498.) 

Solicitude, uneasiness of mind due to fear of evil or desire 
of good. 

1[ 2. Note the frequent use of series. 

Sentence 2. How might liberty burst forth in wild 
and destructive conflagration ? 

Sentence 3. What are the securities of hberty .? 

"We, the people of the United States, . . .in order to 
secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity, 
do hereby ordain and establish this constitution." 

Sentence 4. We. — Washington, himself, a Deputy 
from Virginia, was president of the Convention that 
adopted the constitution. 



238 TEACHING TO READ 

with him if he would bring home knowledge." ^ Of 
his "Journey to the Western Island of Scotland," 
one appreciative critic said : "There are in that book 
thoughts which by long revolution in the great mind 
of Johnson have been formed and polished like pebbles 
rolled in the ocean." 

^ Johnson often took occasion to express his inveter- 
ate dislike for Scotland. ^ He once said to Boswell : "I 
wonder how I should have any enemies for I do harm 
to nobody," ^ Boswell replied : "In the first place you 
will be pleased to recollect that you set out with attack- 
ing the Scotch ; so you got a whole nation for your 
enemies." ^ Johnson then acknowledged that by his 
definition of oats, "a grain fed to horses in England 
and to men in Scotland," he meant to vex the Scotch. 
^ He objected to the extreme nationality of the Scotch. 
® In the heat of the controversy over the authenticity 
of the poems of Ossian, he declared that Scotchmen 
"loved Scotland better than truth." ^"But," he said, 
"I will do you, Boswell, the justice to say that you are 
the most un-Scotchified of your countrymen. ^ You 
are almost the only instance of a Scotchman that I 
have known who did not at every other sentence bring 
in some other Scotchman." 

^ Remarking on the general insufficiency of education 
in Scotland, he said : "Their learning is like bread in 
a besieged town ; every man gets a little, but no man 
gets a full meal." ^ Nor would he allow Scotland to 
derive any credit from Lord Mansfield, as he was 
educated in England. ^ "Much may be made of 
a Scotchman, if he be caught young." ^ When Mr. 
Ogilvie had remarked that Scotland had a great many 
noble, wild prospects, "I believe, sir, you have a great 
many," replied Johnson; "Norway, too, has noble 
wild prospects, and Lapland is remarkable for prodi- 
gious noble wild prospects. ^ But, sir, let me tell 
you, the noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever 
sees, is the highroad that leads him to England." 



STUDIES IN QUOTATIONS 239 

23. Samuel Johnson, a famous English author (1709-1784), 
the compiler of a dictionary with a grammar and a history of 
the English language. 

Boswell, James Boswell, Scottish biographer of Samuel 
Johnson. 

^ I, Sentence 3. Why are hooks of travel good in 
proportion to what a man has previously in his mind? 

Why are they good in proportion to his knowing what 
to observe? 

Why are they good in proportion to his power of con- 
trasting one mode of life with another? 

Give an illustration of the Spanish proverb. 

Avoid monotony in reading by observing the changes 
in the subjects discussed, and by striving to catch the 
spirit of the quoted parts. What are you reading about 
in sentence 3 .^ What were you reading about in sen- 
tence 2 .^ What new subject is taken up in sentence 6 .? 

Express in your own words the meaning of the last 
quotation. 

^ 2. Sentence 6. 

Ossian (osh' ^n), a Celtic warrior poet, mentioned in an- 
cient Scotch ballads and traditions; considered fabulous 
by many. 

U 3. Sentence 2. 

Lord Mansfield, Lord chief justice of England. 

Sentence 4. Observe the difference in the punctua- 
tion of Mr. Ogilvie's remark and Mr. Johnson's repeti- 
tion of it. 

Mr. Ogilvie (5' g'l vi), a Scottish poet. 

Why have the noble wild prospects of Lapland and 
much of Norway been of little value ? 



240 TEACHING TO READ 

24. A REMINISCENCE OF LEXINGTON 

Conclusion of a Speech delivered in Boston in iS^S* 

One raw morning in spring — it will be eighty years 
the ninteenth day of this month — Hancock and Adams, 
the Moses and Aaron of that Great Deliverance, were 
both at Lexington ; they also had '^ obstructed an 
officer" with brave words, British soldiers, a thousand 
strong, came to seize them and carry them over the sea 
for trial, and so nip the bud of Freedom auspiciously 
opening in that early spring. The town militia came 
together before daylight, *'for training." A great, tall 
man, with a large head and a high, wide brow, their 
captain, — one who had "seen service," — marshaled 
them into line, numbering but seventy, and bade 
"Every man load his piece with powder and ball. I 
will order the first man shot that runs away," said h'e, 
when some faltered. "Don't fire unless fired upon, 
but if they want to have a war, let it begin here." 

Gentlemen, you know what followed ; those farmers 
and mechanics "fired the shot heard round the world." 
A little monument covers the bones of such as before 
had pledged their fortune and their sacred honor to the 
Freedom of America, and that day gave it also their 
lives. I was born in that little town, and bred up amid 
the memories of that day. When a boy, my mother 
lifted me up, one Sunday, in her religious, patriotic 
arms, and held me while I read the first monumental 
line I ever saw, — "Sacred to Liberty and the Rights 
of Mankind." 

Since then I have studied the memorial marbles of 
Greece and Rome, in many an ancient town ; nay, on 
Egyptian obelisks, have read what was written before 
the Eternal roused up Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt ; 
but no chiseled stone has ever stirred me to such emo- 
tions as those rustic names of men who fell, "In the 
Sacred Cause of God and their Country." 



STUDIES IN QUOTATIONS 24I 

Gentlemen, the spirit of Liberty, the love of Justice, 

was early fanned into a flame in my boyish heart. That 

monument covers the bones of my own kinsfolk ; it was 

their blood which reddened the long, green grass at 

Lexington. It was my own name which stands chiseled 

on that stone; the tall Captain who marshaled his 

fellow farmers into stern array and spoke such brave 

and dangerous words as opened the war of American 

Independence — the last to leave the field — was my 

father's father. I learned to read out of his Bible, and 

with a musket he that day captured from the foe, I 

learned also another religious lesson, that "Rebellion 

to tyrants is obedience to God.'' I keep them both 

"Sacred to Liberty and the Rights of Mankind," to use 

them both "In the Sacred Cause of God and my 

Country." 

Theodore Parker. 



24. Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God (last 
paragraph) : 

From an inscription on the cannon near which the ashes of 
Presidejit John Bradshaw were lodged, on the top of a high 
hill near Martha Bay in Jamaica. 

History of the Three Judges of King Charles I — Stiles. 

This supposititious epitaph was found among the papers of 
Mr. Jefferson, and in his handwriting. It was supposed to 
be one of Dr. Franklin's spirit-stirring inspirations. 

Life of Jeferson — Randall. 
Reread, applying your understanding of Quotations : 

Chap. III. No. 56. 

Chap. IV. Nos. 17, 19, 27. 

Chap. V. No. 30 (sentence 2). 

Chap. VI. Nos. 18, 24, 27, 28. 

Chap. VII. Nos. 31, 35, 42, 44, 45,46, 47, 53. 

Chap. VIII. Nos. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 21, 25. 



242 TEACHING TO READ 



Suggestive Questions for a Written Le;sson 

1. Give two reasons why a reader should be able 
to look from his book to his hearers. 

2. How many speakers are represented in No. 2 ? 
Who are they .? How many hearers ? Who are they ^ 

3. (No. II.) How is the first of life made for the 
last? Who was Rabbi Ben Ezra ^ 

4. (No. 14.) To what poet does Mr. Tennyson refer ^ 

5. (No. 17.) Who said that the Acadiaris (Hne 11) 
*' had forfeited their possessions to the crown '^ F 

Who says (line 8) : they stood in the way of ^Uhe prog- 
ress of the settlement?" 

6. (No. 19.) Explain the meaning of lines 3, 4. 

7. (No. 21.) Who was Lord Chatham .? Lord 
Brougham .? In what way does Franklin stand 
alone .? 

8. Quote from No. 23 : 

(a) A quotation within a quotation. 

(b) A quoted title. 

(c) A direct quotation from Mr. Johnson. 

(d) An indirect quotation from Mr. Johnson. 

9. Quote from No. 23 : 

(a) A direct quotation from Boswell. 

(b) A quotation from a critic. 

(c) A quotation which stands without a direct in- 
troduction. 

(d) An indirect quotation from Mr. Ogilvie. 
10. The same continued : 

(a) A quotation which shows that Mr. Johnson 
was witty. 

(b) A quotation regarding education in Scotland. 

(c) Who says (H 2. Sentence i), Johnson often 
took occasion to express his dislike for Scotland? [Ans. 
The reviewer of the book.] 

{d) Who was Johnson .? Boswell .? Ossian .? 
Lord Mansfield ? Mr. Ogilvie .? 



CHAPTER X 

STUDIES IN INVERTED EXPRESSIONS, 
CONDITIONAL CLAUSES, AND THE LIKE 

Inverted expressions, because they appeal first to 
the attention, often gain an unwarranted degree of 
importance with the careless reader. As is the case 
with modified words and their modifiers, inverted ex- 
pressions may be of less value, equal value, or more 
value than the other parts of the sentence. Only a 
complete understanding of the thought that the author 
desires to express can determine which. 

The reasons for inversion will vary. In one instance 
it may have been used to bring certain ideas into greater 
prominence; in another to promote grace and beauty 
of utterance; in another to meet mechanical poetical 
requirements ; and still another, merely for the sake of 
variety. It is too much to suppose that authors are 
always conscious of a reason for the employment of 
a certain form of sentence. They are, however, aware 
of the results desired, and practice enables them to 
apply the forms that will best bring those results. 

Whatever may be the reason, the fact remains that 
the two portions of all such sentences are always re- 
lated to each other and to the thought, and their 
arrangement has a distinct bearing on the effect that 
the author wished to produce. The reader should, 
therefore, determine their relative importance and un- 
derstand the effect of the arrangement. 

243 



244 TEACHING TO READ 

SELECTIONS AND SUGGESTIVE STUDIES 

1. He is slowly recovering. 

2. He is recovering slowly. 

3. In the dead of night, with a chosen band, under 
the cover of a truce, he approached. 

4. After rambling leisurely about for some time, 
reading the inscriptions on the various monuments 
which, attracted my curiosity, and giving way to the 
different reflections they suggested, I sat down to rest 
myself on a sunken tombstone. 

Outre Mer — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 



I, 2. The single word adverb is placed naturally 
either before or after its verb. When the author places 
the adverb before the verb, he means, as a rule, to im- 
press you with the idea in his verb. When he places 
the adverb after the verb, the adverb holds the more 
important idea. 

The following illustrates an exception to the rule : 

" He who sedulously attends, pointedly asks, calmly speaks, 
coolly answers, and ceases when he has no more to say, is 
possessed of some of the best requisites of man." 

All men attend, ask, speak, answer, and cease ; but to pos- 
sess some of the best requisites of man, one must attend sedu- 
lously, ask pointedly, speak calmly, answer coolly, etc. Both 
ideas are important, but the verb does not hold the more im- 
portant idea of the two. 

Read, placing the adverb after the verb. Note that the 
author has chosen the more euphonious arrangement. 



STUDIES IN INVERTED EXPRESSIONS 245 

5. Slowly and sadly we laid him down. 

Burial of Sir John Moore — Charles Wolfe. 

6. Silently, one by one, in the infinite meadows of 

heaven. 
Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots 

of the angels. 

Evangeline — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 



3. The adverbial phrase naturally follows its verb. 

He approached — when ? With whom ? Under what 
condition ? 

Read in inverted order, and then in natural order. 
What is gained by the inversion ? 

■ 4. / sat down to rest, etc. — When ? 
Is the order of events a natural one .? 
Rambling about. — In a famous cemetery in Paris. 

5. What effect is gained by the inversion t 

6. Much of the smoothness and beauty, the rhythm 
of poetry is dependent upon inversion. 

Trace the natural order of this sentence, not as a 
grammatical exercise, but for the purpose of determm- 
ing the independent, or leading portion, and seeing the 
relation which each of the other portions bears to it. 

Can you give a reason for the poetic fancy that the 
stars are the forget-me-nots of the angels? 

Legend of the naming of the flower : A lover, while try- 
ing to pluck for his ladylove some blossoms that grew on 
the bank of a rushing stream, lost his hold, and was drowned. 
As he was whirled away on the current, he threw the flowers 
he had gathered to the bank, crying, " Forget me not !" 



k 



246 TEACHING TO READ 

7. There is no flock, however watched and tended, 

But one dead lamb is there ! 
There is no fireside, howsoe'er defended, 
But has one vacant chair ! 

Resignation — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 

8. Peace being declared between France and Eng- 
land in 1748, the governor had now an opportunity to 
sit at his ease in grandfather's chair. 

Grandfather s Chair — Nathaniel Hawthorne. 

9. If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are 
dead, either write things worth reading, or do things 
worth writing. Benjamin Franklin. 

10. If I have laid down my premises correctly ; if I 
have reasoned clearly ; if I have proved my assertions ; 
how can you withhold your assent } 



7. Pupils who unduly emphasize is have not noticed 
that the subject {flock; fireside) follows the verb when 
a sentence is introduced by there. 

8. This is the natural order for this sentence. The 
portion that may appear inverted is independent. 

9. The conditional clause may either precede or 
follow the main clause. 

What is the main clause .^ What choice does it off'er } 
What is gained by placing the conditional clause first .? 

10. An eff*ective way of introducing a question call- 
ing for a decision. A tactful and forceful manner of 
calling attention to the ground that he has covered 
and the manner in which he has done it, — both of 
which should influence his hearers in his favor. 



STUDIES IN INVERTED EXPRESSIONS 247 

11. Though the mist upon our jackets 

In the bitter air congeals, 
And our hues wind stiff and slowly 

. From off the frozen reels ; 
Though the fog be dark around us, 

And the storm blow high and loud, 
We will whistle down the wild wind, • 
And laugh beneath the cloud ! 

The Fishermen — John Greenleaf Whittier. 

12. As a countenance is made beautiful by a soul 
shining through it, so the world is made beautiful by 
the shining through it of God. 

// clauses cannot always be transposed. Observe 
the easy gradations by which sentences verge away 
from the easily transposable variety : 

(i) If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without God's 
knowledge, how can an empire rise without his aid ? 

Benjamin Franklin. 

(2) If any man among you seemeth to be religious and 
bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this 
man's religion is vain. — James i: 26. 

Transpose i, using only the sam^e words, and his will 
precede its antecedent. Transpose 2, and the thought 
is changed. 

11. We will whistle down the wild wind, and laugh 
beneath the cloud, even though, etc. What is gained by 
placing clauses of concession first? Suggestion: When 
we know the conditions first, we are prepared to ap- 
preciate more fully the dauntless spirit of the fishermen. 

12. Many comparisons present the leading idea last. 
Does the comparison make the thought clearer ? 
Invert the order. How is the thought weakened '^. 



248 TEACHING TO READ 

13. As wasps, provoked by children in their play, 
Pour from their mansions by the broad highway, 
In swarms the guiltless traveler engage. 
Whet all their stings, and call forth all their rage ; 
s All rise in arms, and with a general cry 
Assert their waxen domes and buzzing progeny : 
Thus from the tents the fervent legion swarms. 
So loud their clamors, and so keen their arms. 

Homer* s Iliad. 5oo^ Z/^/ — Alexander Pope. (Translation.) 

13. What is the main portion ? Meaning o{ fervent? 
Legion ? 

The fervent legion swarms from the tents thus. — How ? 

As wasps do how many and what things ? What 
causes them to do these things ? {Provoked hy children 
in their play.) What are their mansions? 

Which portion is opposed to guiltless traveler? Ans. 
Children in their play. Note the force of guiltless as 
well as of traveler. 

Explain, Whet all their stings; call forth all their rage; 
a general cry; assert their waxen domes; buzzing progeny. 

What balances from the tents (line 7) ? Ans. From 
their mansions (line 2). 

What balances the fervent legion (line 7) ? Ans. 
Wasps, provoked hy children in their play (line i). 

What balances swarms (line 7) ? Ans. Pour from 
their mansions (line 2). 

What balances so loud their clamors (line 8) ? Ans. 
A general cry (line 5). 

What balances so keen their arms (line 8) ? Ans. 
Whet all their stings (line 4). 

What is the relation between line 7 and lines 1-6 } 
Between lines 8 and 7 ? 



STUDIES IN INVERTED EXPRESSIONS 249 

14. If you look about you, and consider the lives of 
others as well as your own ; if you think how few are 
born with honors, and how many die without name or 
children ; how little beauty we see, and how few friends 
we hear of; how many diseases, and how much poverty 
there is in the world, — you will fall down upon your 
knees, and, instead of repining at your afflictions, will 
admire so many blessings which you have received 
at the hand of God. Sir William Temple. 

15. Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit 
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste 
Brought death into the world, and all our woe. 
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man 



What is the object of the poet in presenting the com- 
parison ? Ans. To give the impression of multitudes 
moving in thick masses, but from motive, and under 
direction. It is as one might observe it from a height. 

14. Periodic sentences afford excellent practice in 
reading. By a periodic sentence is meant one which 
is so constructed that it does not give a completed 
meaning until the very close. The leading thought is 
kept in suspense until all of the several or many sub- 
sidiary parts are disposed of. 

What is the leading thought ? You will do how 
many things ? 

What opposed thought is inserted ? Is it opposed to 
both divisions of the leading thought ? 

15. Very long sentences frequently have long parts 
that would be periodic if standing by themselves: 
This quotation, as it stands, is only a part of the open- 
ing sentence of " Paradise Lost " ; the remaining part 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ IJ 



250 TEACHING TO READ 

5 Restore us, and regain the blissful seat, 
Sing, heav'nly Muse, that, on the secret top 
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire 
That shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed, 
In the beginning how the Heav'ns and Earth 
lo Rose out of Chaos. 

Paradise Lost. Book I — John Milton. 



is so constructed that the entire sentence is not periodic. 

It is as follows : 

:or, if Sion hill 
Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flowed 
Fast by the oracle of God, I thence 
Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song. 
That with no middle flight intends to soar 
Above the Aonian mount, while it pursues 
Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme. 

An examination of No. 15 shows that we may have 
a completed sentence after Sing, heav'nly Muse 
(line 6). It is because the sentence might be a periodic 
one at that point, but is not, that it affords reading 
material a step more difficult than the preceding 
illustration; for to the otherwise periodic arrangement 
is added the modifying clause that identifies the 
heavnly Muse referred to. 

Sing, heavnly Muse, — what .^ Ans. Lines 1-4. 

Be careful of the phrasing in lines 8-10. In the 
beginning does not tell when that shepherd taught the 
chosen seed, but when the Heav'ns and Earth rose out 
of Chaos. Natural order: That shepherd who first 
taught the chosen seed how the Heav'ns and Earth rose 
out of Chaos in the beginning. 



STUDIES IN INVERTED EXPRESSIONS 251 

16. ^ Curiosity is no doubt an excellent quality. 
^ In a critic it is especially excellent. ^ To want to 
know all about a thing, and not merely one man's 
account or version of it ; to see all around it, or, at 
any rate, as far around it as possible ; not to be lazy 
or indifferent, or easily put off, or scared away, — all 
this is really very excellent. 

Obiter Dicta — Augustine • Birrell. 

17. Wherever, O man, God's sun first beamed upon 
thee, — where the stars of heaven first shone above thee, 

— where His lightnings first declared His omnipotence, 
and His storm and wind shook thy soul with pious awe, 

— there are thy affections, there is thy country. Where 
the first human eye bent lovingly over thy cradle, — 
where thy mother first bore thee joyfully on her bosom, — 
where thy father engraved the words of wisdom on thy 
heart, — there are thy affections, there is thy country. 

M. E. Arndt. 



16. How does the leading thought in sentence 3 
differ in formation from the leading portion in No. 14 ? 

What relation do the foregoing portions of the sen- 
tence bear to all this? 

Read, omitting all this. 0£ what use is its presence ? 
Can you give No. 14 a similar arrangement ^ (If you 
would do all this.) Would it add to the clearness ? 

What do the semicolons lead you to expect regarding 
at least one of the three divisions ? Ans. That one 
division at least will probably contain a comma. 

What thought relation does sentence 3 bear to sen- 
tence I ? 

17. Thy affections, man, are where, sentence i ? 
Sentence 2 ? 



252 TEACHING TO READ 

18. If when I read a book about God I find that it 
has put Him farther from me ; or about man, that it 
has put me farther from him ; or about this universe, 
that it has shaken down upon it a new look of desola- 
tion, turning a green field into a wild moor ; or about 
life, that it has made it seem a little less worth living, 
on all accounts, than it was ; or about moral principles, 
that they are not quite so clear and strong as they were 
when this author began to talk; then I know that on 
any of these five cardinal things in the life of man, — 
his relations to God, to his fellows, to the world about 
him, and the world within him, and the great principles 
on which all things stable center, — that, for me, is 
a bad book. It may chime in with some lurking ap- 
petite in my own nature, and so seem to be as sweet 
as honey to my taste; but it comes to bitter, bad 

^^^"1^^- Robert Collyer. 



Compare the sentences, looking for some method in 
the author's arrangement by which clearness and sim- 
plicity are effected. Sentence i deals with the sun, 
the stars, the lightnings, storm and wind; sentence 2 
speaks of the human eye, the mother, and the father. 
Might one be said to represent the ties of nature, and 
the other of human nature } 

18. What is the main thought ? Ans. I know that 

. . . that is a had hook. 

A had hook for whom ? For me, on what subjects \ 
Trace the " five cardinal things " in the series of 

conditional clauses. Let the semicolons help you. 

his relations to God when I read about God, etc. 

to his fellows about man, etc. 

to the world about him about this universe, etc. 



STUDIES IN INVERTED EXPRESSIONS 253 

19. INDIAN JUGGLERY 

^ Coming forward and seating himself on the ground, 
in his white dress and tightened turban, the chief 
of the Indian Jugglers begins with tossing up two brass 
balls, which is what any of us could do, and concludes 
by keeping up four at the same time, which is what none 
of us could do to save our lives, not if we were to take 
our whole lives to do it in. ^ It is the utmost stretch 
of human ingenuity, which nothing but the bending 
of the faculties of body and mind to it from the ten- 
derest infancy with incessant, ever-anxious application 
up to manhood, can accomplish or make even a slight 

the world within him about life, etc. 

the great principles about moral principles, etc. 

Memorize. Begin by getting the topics in the series 
clearly outlined. Note the construction of the different 
parts of the series : for instance, the opposite arrange- 
ment in the first and second {put Him — from me; put 
me — from him) ; the figurative comparison in the third ; 
the breaking of the main thought in the fourth. 

Note the places where the argument changes : // 
(a series of conditions) ; then (introducing the main 
thought) ; / know that (the main thought broken to 
insert a modifying thought, which, in turn, must be 
explained before the main thought is completed). 

Trace the series in the explanatory portion. What 
is the third part of the series ? 

19. ^i. Sentence i. Simplify by tracing first the 
leading thought, noting balanced portions : The chief of 
the Indian Jugglers begins with tossing up two brass balls 
and concludes by keeping up four at the same time. 



254 TEACHING TO READ 

approach to. ^ To conceive of this extraordinary 
dexterit}^, distracts the imagination and makes ad- 
miration breathless. 

^ To catch four balls in succession, in less than a 
second of time, and deliver them back so as to return 
with seeming consciousness to the hand again ; to make 
them revolve around him at certain intervals, like the 
planets in their spheres ; to make them chase each 
other Kke sparkles of fire, or shoot up like flowers or 
meteors ; to throw them behind his back, and twine 
them around his neck like ribbons, or like serpents ; to 
do what appears an impossibility, and to do it with 
all the ease, the grace, the carelessness imaginable ; to 
laugh at, to play with the glittering mockeries, to 
follow them with his eye as if he could fascinate them 
with its lambent fire, or as if he had only to see that 
they kept time with the music on the stage, — there 
is something in all this which he who does not admire 
may be quite sure he never really admired anything in 
the whole course of his life. ^ It is skill surmounting 
difficulty, and beauty triumphing over skill. ^ The 
smallest awkwardness or want of pliancy or self- 
possession would stop the whole process. ^ It is the 
work of witchcraft, and yet sport for children. 

William Hazlitt. 

Sentence 2. Watch the phrasing : from the tenderest 
hifancy . . . up to manhood. 

\2. Sentence I. What is the leading thought.^ 
Study the inverted portion, looking for some method 
in the arrangement that may help to clearness of ex- 
pression. You will notice semicolon divisions. — They 
will help. You will notice that each of those divisions 
begins with to do something. — But that will not prove 
reliable because some of the subordinate divisions are 
also to do something. 



STUDIES IN INVERTED EXPRESSIONS 255 

20. THE REWARDING OF HORATIUS 

From Horatiiis. 

1. They gave him of the corn-land, 

That was of pubKc right, 
As much as two strong oxen 

Could plough from morn till night; 
And they made a molten image. 

And set it up on high, 
And there it stands unto this day 

To witness if I lie. 

2. It stands in the Comitium, 

Plain for all folk to see ; 
Horatius in his harness, 

Halting upon one knee; 
And underneath is written, 

In letters all of gold. 
How valiantly he kept the bridge 

In the brave days of old. 

3. And still his name sounds stirring 

Unto the men of Rome, 
As the trumpet-blast that cries to them 

To charge the Volscian home ; 
And wives still pray to Juno 

For boys with hearts as bold 
As his who kept the bridge so well 

In the brave days of old. 

4. And in the nights of winter, 

When the cold north winds blow. 
And the long howling of the wolves 

Is heard amidst the snow; 
When round the lonely cottage 

Roars loud the tempest's din. 
And the good logs of Algidus 

Roar louder yet within ; 



256 TEACHING TO READ 

5. When the oldest cask is opened, 

And the largest lamp is lit, 
When the chestnuts glow in the embers. 

And the kid turns on the spit ; 
When young and old in circle 

Around the firebrands close ; 
When the girls are weaving baskets. 

And the lads are shaping bows ; 

6. When the goodman mends his armor, 

And trims his helmet's plume ; 
When the goodwife's shuttle merrily 

Goes flashing through the loom ; 
With weeping and with laughter 

Still is the story told, 
How well Horatius kept the bridge 

In the brave days of old. 

Thomas Babington Macaulay. 



20. There are several versions of the story of Horatius. 
Lord Macaulay tells us that according to Polybius, a Greek 
historian of Rome, Horatius defended the bridge alone and 
perished in the waters ; but according to the chronicles that 
Livy, a Roman historian of Rome, followed, Horatius had 
two companions, swam safely to shore, and was loaded with 
honors and rewards. See page 72, No. 43. 

What inversion do you find in stanza 2 ? 

What is the effect of inverting the order of still in 
stanza 3 ? 

What is the leading thought of stanzas 4, 5, 6 ? Trace 
the semicolons. 

21. When inverted portions are very long, be sure 



STUDIES IN INVERTED EXPRESSIONS 257 

21. FRANKLIN'S PROPHECY 

At the Close of the Federal Convention. 

^ When all was over, it is said that many of the mem- 
bers seemed awe-struck. ^ Washington sat with head 
bowed in solemn meditation. ^ The scene was ended 
by a characteristic bit of homely pleasantry from 
Franklin. ^ Thirtj^-three years ago, in the days of 
George II, before the first mutterings of the Revolu- 
tion had been heard, and when the French dominion 
in America was still untouched, before the banishment 
of the Acadians or the rout of Braddock, while Wash- 
ington was still surveying lands in the wilderness, 
while Madison was playing in the nursery, and Hamil- 
ton was not yet born, Franklin had endeavored to 
bring together the thirteen colonies in a federal union. 
^ Of the famous Albany plan of 1754, the first complete 
outline of a federal constitution for America that was 
ever made, he was the principal, if not the sole author. 
^ When he signed the Declaration of Independence in 
this very room, his years had rounded the full period 
of three-score and ten. ^ Eleven years more had passed, 
and he had been spared to see the noble aim of his life 
accomplished. ^ There was still, no doubt, a chance of 
failure, but hope now reigned in the old man's breast. 

^ On the back of the President's quaint black arm- 
chair there was emblazoned a half-sun, brilliant with 
its gilded rays. ^ As the meeting was breaking up and 
Washington arose, Franklin pointed to the chair and 
made it the text for prophecy. 

" As I have been sitting here all these weeks," said 
he, " I have often wondered whether yonder sun is 
rising or setting. But now I know it is a rising sun." 

John Fiske. 

that the main clause is recognized as such when it 
appears. 



258 TEACHING TO READ 

22. AMERICA 

On the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning in 
America (1732). 

The Muse, disgusted at an age and clime 

Barren of every glorious theme, 
In distant lands now waits a better time, 

Producing subjects worthy fame. 

In happy climes, where from the genial sun 
And virgin earth such scenes ensue. 

The force of art by nature seems outdone. 
And fancied beauties by the true : 

In happy climes, the seat of innocence. 
Where nature guides and virtue rules ; 

Where men shall not impose for truth and sense 
The pedantry of courts and schools. 

There shall be sung another golden age. 

The rise of empires and of arts, 
The good and great, inspiring epic rage, 

The wisest heads and noblest hearts. 

Not such as Europe breeds in her decay. 
Such as she bred when fresh and young. 

When heavenly flame did animate her clay. 
By future poets shall be sung. 

Westward the course of empire takes its way ; 

The four first acts already past, 
A fifth shall close the drama with the day, — 

Time's noblest offspring is the last. 

Bishop George Berkeley. 



22. The Muse, see Dictionary. 



STUDIES IN INVERTED EXPRESSIONS 259 

Disgusted at an age. — To a nation which had known the 
vigor and spontaneity of the palmy days of the EHzabethan 
period, and had passed through the progressive " Augustan 
Age " which had closed with the death of Queen Anne in 
1714, the year 1732 may indeed have seemed " barren." 
Of the Augustan poets, only Jonathan Swift and Alexander 
Pope remained ; the former much mixed in politics, the latter 
intellectually great. Milton, who had written one of the 
greatest poems in the Enghsh language, had died in 1674; 
"Glorious John" Dryden in 1700, Addison in 1719, and 
Steele in 1729. Goldsmith and Cowper were yet but chil- 
dren, and Gray was but sixteen years of age. George I, who 
reigned from 1714 to 1727, was unpopular with the people. 
In 1732, under George II, the country was at peace, religion 
was at a low ebb, and the people most interested in material 
improvement. 

Clime, a region of earth. 

Now waits a better time. — Where ? Ans. In distant 
lands. 

Observe the inverted order in stanzas 2, 3, and 4. 
There shall he sung another golden age. — Where ? Ans. 
In happy climes . . . (stanza 2) ; In happy climes . . . 
(stanza 3). 

Stanza 2. Explain such scenes ensue that the force 
of art by nature seems outdone, and fancied beauties (seem 
outdone) by the true. 

Stanza 3. Pedantry, the ostentatious overrating of the 
unimportant details of learning. 

Form and style were closely studied by the poets of the 
Augustan Age. Pope's masterpiece, " An Essay on Man," 
did not appear until 1734. 

Stanza 4. Golden age, the time of the highest perfection 



26o TEACHING TO READ 

in literature and kindred arts ; in English poetry, the 
Elizabethan period. 

Epic, narrating in grand and impressive style the exploits 
of heroes. 

Rage, poetic passion. 

Stanza 5. Line i. Such — what? What shall he 
sung ? 

Stanza 6. Meaning of ^m^ir^.'' . 

The four first acts. — There are commonly five acts in 
a drama. 

With the day. — The last act closes the evening. 

What relation does stanza 6 bear to the poem as a 
whole ? Stanza 5 to stanza 4 .^ Stanzas 2 and 3 to 
stanza 4 '^. 

America is indebted to Bishop Berkeley not only for this 
prophecy of her future importance, written almost 200 years 
ago, but also for his efforts in her behalf. 

He was born in Ireland and educated at Trinity college ; 
was a distinguished writer, a traveler, and a friend of royalty. 
About 1725, he formed a plan of establishing a college in the 
Bermudas for the purpose of training pastors for the colonies 
and missionaries to the Indians. Parliament promised 
him aid, and in 1728 he sailed for America, landing at New- 
port, Rhode Island, where he awaited for nearly two years 
the arrival of the promised aid. It never came ; and finally 
he was advised to return. The scheme, however, was not 
fruitless to our country, for he left 800 volumes of the library 
he had brought with him, to Yale college, certain Greek and 
Latin classics to Harvard, and the Whitehall estate, which 
has become such a valuable endowment, to the two colleges, 
for scholarships in Latin and Greek. This is the Bishop 
Berkeley whose name is inscribed on the organ in the old 
Trinity church in Newport, Rhode Island. 



STUDIES IN INVERTED EXPRESSIONS 261 

Give definite illustration of how the prophecy is 
being fulfilled in the rise of empires ; of arts; of good 
and great; of wise heads ; and nohle hearts. 

What men have we had who compare with the men 
who marked the " golden age " in England, Greece, 
and Rome ? 

Do you believe that we are the " last " ? Is it hard 
to imagine that in the years to come some new nation 
may arise that will outstrip us in arts and learning ? 

The time used for such questioning as that indicated in 
the last three paragraphs should be comparatively short. 

Attention should be called to portions requiring 
special thought when assigning the lesson, and written 
answers may well be required frequently. 

Reread, applying your understanding of Inverted 
Expressions : 

Chap. I. Nos. 25, 26. 

Chap. II. Nos. 12, 14. 

Chap. IV. Nos. 22, 27 (stanza 2). 

Chap. V. Nos. 19, 28, 32 (sentence 2). 

Suggestive Questions for Written Review 

1. What effect is gained by the inverted order in 
Nos. 2, 5, and 6 .? 

2. (Nos. 9, 10.) What is gained by placing con- 
ditional clauses first .^ 

3. Quote the main thought in No. 11 ; No. 14. 

4. Why is No« 15 a periodic sentence } 

5. (No. 20.) Who was Horatius .? Why did the Ro- 
mans honor his memory .^ 

At what place does the inverted arrangement begin '^. 
What is the main thought in stanzas 4-6 .? 



262 TEACHING TO READ 

6. (No. 22.) Waits — where (stanza i) ? There — 
where (stanza 4) ? Shall he sung — what (stanza 5) ? 

7. (No. 22.) Explain the following : 
{a) The Muse. 

(b) Disgusted at an age and clime barren of every 
glorious theme. 

{c) The force of art by nature seems outdone y 
And fancied beauties by the true. 

(d) Imposing for truth and sense the pedantry of 
courts and schools. 

{e) Another golden age. 

8. (No. 22.) {a) Give the meaning of clime, genial, 
ensue, epic, empire, drama. 

(b) Who was Bishop George Berkeley ? 

9. Mark the pronunciation of the following words : 
leisurely, different, curiosity, progeny, clamors, chaos, 
every, Comitium, Algidus, Horatius. 

10. Which of the selections in Chapter X do you 
like best ^ Why .? 



CHAPTER XI 

STUDIES IN INTERROGATIVE AND 
EXCLAMATORY EXPRESSIONS 

Studies in Interrogation and Exclamation are pri- 
marily studies in motive. If a reader understands 
the text and is familiar with it, he needs only to grasp 
the reason for asking the question in order to interpret 
correctly. 

The simplest motive for asking a question is to 
obtain information through a direct answer. Ordinary 
conversation is full of this kind of questioning. One 
person asks, another rephes (No. 3) ; or the question 
may be repeated by a third person in either direct or 
indirect form (No. 2). Such questions present material 
for a wide variety of interpretation, as may be seen in 
Nos. 5, 6, and 7, where we enter the realm of emotional 
motives. 

Figurative interrogations, or those that are not asked 
for the purpose of obtaining a direct answer, make up 
another large class of interrogative forms. Orators 
recognize in them one of the most effective means for 
fixing the attention of their hearers, stimulating their 
i;easoning faculties, and influencing them to make 
decisions. Authors, too, reahze that a direct question 
is one of the most effective ways of introducing a sub- 
ject or of emphasizing a point, and both prose writers 

263 



264 TEACHING TO READ 

and poets use the method more freely than is generally 
supposed. 

Studies in Exclamation are primarily studies in 
emotional motives. 

This is a fine piece of work. (A plain, simple statement.) 
What a fine piece of work! (The same expressed with 
emotion.) 

A reader should never attempt the interpretation of 
an exclamation until he has a clear conception of the 
real or imagined condition that called forth its utterance. 
Imagine conditions that might call forth the above state- 
ment. How must you change your picture to adapt the 
statement to an exclamation ? Will you imagine a 
change in the quality of the work, in the experience of 
the judge, or in the temperament of the speaker .? 

A second consideration enters into all exclamations 
that are not in the nature of soliloquy; namely, 
What effect does the speaker desire to produce on his 
hearer .? The consideration of this will do much to 
keep expression natural and direct. 

The study of reading must always appeal more or less 
to the imagination, but studies in exclamation appeal 
most strongly to it. We conceive the conditions sur- 
rounding the utterance, — step into those conditions, 
as it were, — speak the words, — and, presto ! the truth 
is manifest. 

He who looks for examples of interrogation or excla- 
mation will be surprised at how often he will find thera 
together, but, because of the wide difference between 
motives for exclamation and those for interrogation, 
they are studied first separately, and then together. 



INTERROGATION AND EXCLAMATION 265 

Pedagogical Introduction to Part II 

When a pupil reads an exclamatory passage poorly, 
the questions for the teacher to decide are : 

Has he a clear idea of the conditions that might call 
forth such an utterance ? 

Is he of an unsympathetic, unimaginative tempera- 
ment so that he needs extra encouragement and stimu- 
lation on my part ? 

Is he sufficiently familiar with the text to allow his 
imagination a chance to play its part ? 

The skillful and experienced teacher who is able 
to judge pretty accurately how much and what a pupil 
is thinking, by the manner in which he reads, will be 
able to gain results with much less " story-telling " 
than the teacher who has not learned to interpret the 
emotional language of countenance and voice. Con- 
ditions calling forth an utterance often need to be 
clearly set forth, but it should always be done in the 
briefest and most direct manner possible. 

The instructions to the teacher for this chapter may 
be summed up as follows : 

Persist in inquiries regarding motive : Why does 
the author or speaker ask the question I What is the 
strong or sudden feeling behind the exclamation .? Who 
is the hearer (known or imagined) .? What effect does 
the speaker wish to produce in his hearer ? Do not 
accept " hazy," indefinite, half-expressed replies. Think 
out the answer to each question for yourself, so that 
you will be able to assist the pupils when they find 
expression difficult. Broaden your vocabulary if you 
find it limited, and assist the pupils to broaden theirs. 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ l8 



266 TEACHING TO READ 

SELECTIONS AND SUGGESTIVE STUDIES 

Part I. Interrogation 

1. (a) He asked me if I thought I could reach home 
by dark. 

(b) He asked me, *' Do you think you can reach 
home by dark ? " 

2. The world will not anxiously inquire who you are ; 
it will ask of you, " What can you do ? '' 

3. During the Battle of Crecy, Prince Edward of 
England and his division were so hard pressed, that 
the Earl of Warwick sent a message to the king, be- 
seeching him to send more aid. 

" Is my son killed ? " asked the king. 

" No, sire, please God," returned the messenger. 

" Is he wounded ^ " said the king. 

" No, sire." 

" Is he thrown to the ground .? " said the king. 

" No, sire, not so ; but he is very hard pressed." 

** Then," said the king, " go back to those who sent 
you, and tell them that I shall send no aid ; because I 
set my heart upon my son proving himself this day 
a brave knight, and because I am resolved, please God, 
that the honor of a great victory shall be his." 

J Child's History of England — Charles Dickens. (Slightly adapted.) 

1. (a) An assertion that a question has been asked. 
(b) The direct question formally introduced. 

2. The indirect and the direct form may be found 
in the same sentence. Change the indirect to direct. 

3. Examples of direct questions to which answers 
are expected, and given. 



INTERROGATION AND EXCLAMATION 267 

4. Dr. Abernethy, the famous Scotch surgeon, was 
a man of few words, but he once met his match — in 
a woman. She called at his office in Edinburgh and 
showed a hand badly inflamed and swollen, and the 
following dialogue, opened by the doctor, took place : 

" Burn .? " 
bruise. 

" Poultice." 

The next day the woman called agam, and the dialogue 

was as follows : 

" Better .? " 

"Worse." 

" More poultice." 

Two days later the woman made another call, and 
this conversation occurred : 

" Better .? " 

" Well. Fee .? " 

" Nothing," exclaimed the doctor. " Most sensible 

woman I ever met." • ^^^ York Evening Mail. 

5. Did you so far forget yourself as to say that ^ 

(Surprise.) 
Did you so far forget yourself as to say that ? 

(Astonishment.) 



Earl of Warwick, — One of the two Earls assisting the 
Prince. 

The king. — Edward III of England. 

4. Here the question and the reply are indicated for 
the reader mainly by punctuation and position ; and he 
must render the text in such a way that the hearer will 
recognize which person is speaking, and which portion 
is the question, and which the reply. 

5. Stimulate the pupils to put into the questions the 



268 TEACHING TO READ 

Did you so far forget yourself as to say that ? 

(Amusement.) 
Did you jso far forget yourself as to say that ? 

(Indignation.) 
Did you so far forget yourself as to say that ? 

(Anger.) 
Did you so far forget yourself as to say that ^ 

(Incredibility — ^I cannot believe it.) 
Did you so far forget yourself as to say that ^ 

(Disgust.) 
Did you so far forget yourself as to say that ^ 

(Something more to be added.) 

6. "Willyou tell me where you have been .?" asked the 
master. There was no reply. " Will you tell me where 
you have been ? " he repeated sternly, laying a detain- 
ing hand on the boy's shoulder. It was plain that this 
master would not be denied. 

7. And it came to pass, when they were in the field, 
that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew 
him. 

And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy 
brother ? And he said, I know not : Am I my brother's 
keeper.? • Genesis 4: 8,9. 

8. You have sometimes been on a railway train when 
the engine was detached some distance from the station 
you were approaching ? 



various emotions indicated : " I am so surprised ! " etc. 

6. A question having the force of a demand. 
Why is the second question stronger than the first .? 

7. A reply containing an evasive interrogative. 
What is Gain's motive in asking the question .? 



INTERROGATION AND EXCLAMATION 269 

9. A hundred years hence, what difference will it 
make whether you were rich or poor, a peer or a peasant ? 
But what difference may it not make whether you did 
what was right or what was wrong ? 

10. Our earthly pilgrimage is nearly finished ; shall 
we not, then, think of eternity ? 

1 1 . Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard 
his spots? Jeremiah 13: 23. 

12. Where now is the splendid robe of the consulate ? 
Where are the brilliant torches ? Where are the ap- 
plauses and dances, the feasts and entertainments ? 
Where are the coronets and canopies ? Where the 
huzzas of the city ? The comphments of the circus, 
and the flattering acclamations of the spectators ? 



8. Declarative in form. Only the question mark 
tells us that it is interrogative. 

9. Reasoning through opposed questions. 
Note the contrasting ideas. 

10. The interrogative member following the con- 
ditional member, — an impressive form. It says," Shall 
we not ; " it means, " We should." 

11. An emphatic form of denial. We know they 
cannot. 

12. When a question is equivalent to a very em- 
phatic negative statement, it will express itself with 
the faUing inflection instead of the rising. 

Where now is the splendid robe of the consulate ? (It is 
gone.) Where are the brilliant torches ? (They are not to 



270 TEACHING TO READ 

13. Shall we call him a patriot, or shall we stigmatize 
him as a traitor ? Shall we crown the author of these 
public calamities with garlands, or shall we wrest from 
him his ill-deserved authority ? 

14. And long they fought, and firm and well, 
And silent fought, and silent fell, 

Save when they gave the fearful yell 
Of death, defiance, or of hate. 
5 But what were feathered flints to fate ? 
And what were yells to seething lead ? 
And what the few and untrained feet 
To troops that came with martial tread, 
And moved by wood and hill and stream 
10 As thick as people in a street. 
As strange as spirits in a dream ? 

The Tale of the Tall Alcalde — Joaquin Miller. 



be seen.) Where are the applauses and dances, the feasts 
and entertainments ? (They are past.) Where are the 
coronets and canopies t (Nowhere.) Where the huzzas of 
the city .? (Gone.) The compliments of the circus, and the 
flattering acclamations of the spectators ^ (Gone.) 

Rewrite the paragraph in the form of emphatic state- 
ments, and read. Then practice the interrogative form 
until you can gain through it the same eff'ect. 

13. When questions are made up of very strong con- 
trasting parts and the hearers are expected to agree 
most emphatically with the second part, the falhng 
inflection will again be used. 

14. To what emphatic negative statement is each 
question equivalent } The contrasting character of 
some of the ideas also warrants falling inflections. 



INTERROGATION AND EXCLAMATION 27 1 

15. And had he not high honor, — 
The hillside for his pall, 
To he in state while angels wait, 
With stars for tapers tall, 
5 And the dark rock pines Hke tossing plumes 
Over his bier to wave, 
And God's own hand, in that lonely land, 

To lay him in the grave ? 
The Burial of Moses — Mrs. Cecil Frances Alexander. 



The poet felt the reply as he wrote ; the reader should 
feel the reply as he reads. 

15. High. — Greater than customary. 

How many phases of honor are suggested ? 

What relation do the last seven hnes bear to the first 

line ? 

Explain the reference to pall, He in state, tapers, 
plumes. Meaning of hier? 

Angels wait. — Instead of whom ? God's own hand. 
— Whose usually ? 

Rock pine, a variety of the cypress pine. 

Observe the usefulness of and, lines 5, 7. 

What features characterized this burial, making it 
different from other burials ? 

And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over 
against Beth-peor; but no man knoweth of his sepulcher 
unto this day. Deuteronomy 34: 6. 

Mark Twain loved to repeat " The Burial of Moses." Its 
stately lines and simple grandeur always stirred him. It 
was copied in his notebook in full, and many attribute a 
measure of the simplicity and beauty of his own style to his 
deep appreciation of the poem. 



272 TEACHING TO READ 

i6. Under what circumstances did he come ? for 
what purpose ? at whose instigation ? 

17. How shall a man obtain the kingdom of God ? 
by impiety ? by murder ? by falsehood ? by theft ? 

18. What is it to be a gentleman ? It is to be honest, 
to be gentle, to be generous, to be brave, to be wise ; 
and, possessing all these qualities, to exercise them in 
the most graceful outward manner. 

William Makepeace Thackeray. 

19. Would you make men trustworthy ? Trust 
them. Would you make them true ? Believe them. 
We win by tenderness, we conquer by forgiveness. 

Frederick William Robertson. 

20. What would content you ? Talent ? No. Enter- 
prise ^ No. Courage ? No. Reputation ? No. Vir- 
tue .? No. The man whom you would select should 
possess not one, but all of these. 



16. Notice the punctuation. A series of questions 
having a part {did he come) in common. The absence 
of a capital in the second and third questions indicates 
close connection with the first. 

17. One question followed by a series of questions, 
all of which are dependent upon the first one to com- 
plete their meaning. 

Line 2. Substitute a series of negative statements. 
— Are they as effective ^ 

Compare 17 with 16. How are the two alike ^ How 
diflTerent ^ 

18. A question with the answer attached. Memorize. 



INTERROGATION AND EXCLAMATION 273 

21. In words the godly man is mute, — 

In deeds he Hves ; — 
Would'st know the tree ? examine well the fruit. 
The flower ? the scent.it gives. 

Harmonious Splendors — Eliza A. Pettsinger. 

22. He may live without books, — what is knowledge 

but grieving ? 
He may live without hope, — what is hope but 

deceiving ? • 

He may live without love, — what is passion but 

pining ? 
But where is the man that can live without 

ammg . Lucile — Owen Meredith. 



19. Combine sentences i and 2, and 3 and 4. Do 
they read as effectively .^ Memorize. 

20. A step harder than No. 19. If necessary, com- 
plete the single word questions (Would talent? Would 
enterprise?) and try to make plain what the single 
words stand for, as you read them. 

21. Read lines i and 2 in the natural order. 

What relation do lines 3 and 4 bear to lines i and 2 '^. 

What does the small letter following the question 
mark tell us : 

Change line 3 to a conditional statement. Is it as 
effective .^ 

Express the thought of line 4 Complete. • 

22. A question following a statement. 
What is the motive in asking the questions .? 
Wh^at relation does line 4 bear to lines 1-3 .? 



274 TEACHING TO READ 

23. Are not my people happ}^ ? I look upon the 
past and the present, upon my nearer and remoter 
subjects, and ask, nor fear the answer. Whom have I 
wronged ? What province have I oppressed ? What 
city pillaged ? What region drained with taxes ? 
Whose life have I unjustly taken, or estates coveted 
or robbed ? Whose honor have I wantonly assailed ? 
Whose rights, though of the weakest and poorest, have 
I trenched upon ? I dwell, where I would ever dwell, in 
the hearts of my people. It is written in your faces 
that I reign not more over you than within you. The 
foundation of my throne is not more power than love. 

Zenobia — William Ware, 



23. Be awake to the contrasts in sentence 2. 

Rewrite the series of questions in the form of state- 
ments, and decide whether the selection reads with 
equal force. How suggestive are the questions ! To 
have done those things would have been to rule as 
a tyrant, and through " power " without " love.'' 

Watch the new thought words in each successive part 
of the series. Compare the second question of the 
series with the first. — " / " represents an old idea. 
Compare the third question with the second. — " Have 
I " has become so familiar that the author omits it 
entirely. JVhat now becomes old, while city and pil- 
laged are new. Read, changing the order of the third 
and fourth questions so that hearers will appreciate the 
smoother and more forceful effect produced by placing 
the longer question second. 

Whose life have I unjustly taken, or estates coveted or 
robbed? — Keep the eyes open for the entrance of modi- 
fying ideas, and measure just how much each one is 



INTERROGATION AND EXCLAMATION 275 

24. NEW ENGLAND 

1. The gentleman from South Carohna taunts us 
with counting the costs of that war in which the hberties 
and honor of the country, and the interests of the North, 
as he asserts, were forced to go elsewhere for their 
defense. Will he sit down with me and count the cost 
now ? Will he reckon up how much of treasure the 
State of South Carolina expended in that war, and how 
much the State of Massachusetts ? — how much of the 
blood of either State was poured out on sea or land ? 
I challenge the gentleman to the test of patriotism 
which the army rolls, the navy lists, and the treasury 
books afford. 

2. Sir, they who revile us for our opposition to the 
last war have looked only on the surface of things. 
They little know the extremities of suffering which the 
people of Massachusetts bore at that period, out of 

worth. Zenobia gives her hearers a variety of subjects 
upon which they may accuse her if they can. 

Meaning of wantonly? Assailed? Trenched upon? 

I dwell, where I would ever dwell. — Weigh the value 
of the repeated word. What explanatory phrase do you 
find in the sentence .^ 

It is written — where .^ How could it be written in 
their faces? Ans. In an expression of contentment, 
happiness, love, and respect. What is written? Catch 
the contrast between over and within. 

In the last sentence, Zenobia is talking about the 
foundation of her throne, and both foundation and 
throne present new ideas. 

No. 23 follows No. 28, Chapter I. Read them 
together. 



276 TEACHING TO READ 

attachment to the Union, — their famiHes beggared, 
their fathers and sons bleeding in camps, or pining in 
foreign prisons. They forget that not a field was 
marshaled on this side of the mountains in which the 
men of Massachusetts did not play their part, as be- 
came their sires, and their " blood fetched from mettle 
of war proof/' They battled and bled wherever battle 
was fought or blood drawn. 

3. Not only by land. I ask the gentleman. Who 
fought your naval battles in the last war ? Who led 
you on to victory after victory, on the ocean and the 
lakes .^ Whose was the triumphant prowess before 
which the Red Cross of England paled with unwonted 
shame? Were they not men of New England .? Were 
these not foremost in those maritime encounters which 
humbled the pride and power of Great Britain ? 

4. I appeal to my colleague before me from our 
common county of brave old Essex, — I appeal to my 
respected colleagues from the shores of the Old Colony. 
Was there a village or a hamlet on Massachusetts 
Bay which did not gather its hardy seamen to man the 
gun decks of your ships of war ^ Did they not rally 
to the battle as men flock to a feast ? 

5. In conclusion, I beseech the House to pardon me, 
if I have kindled, on this subject, into something of un- 
seemly ardor. I cannot sit tamely by in humble, 
acquiescent silence when reflections, which I know to 
be unjust, are cast on the faith and honor of Massa- 
chusetts. 

6. Had I sufi^ered them to pass without admonition, 
I should have deemed that the disembodied spirits 
of h^r departed children, from their ashes mingled 
with the dust of every stricken field of the Revolution, 
— from their bones mouldering to the consecrated 
earth of Bunker Hill, of Saratoga, of Monmouth, would 
start up in visible shape before me to cry shame on me, 
their recreant countryman. 

7. Sir, I have roamed through the world to find 



INTERROGATION AND EXCLAMATION 



277 



hearts nowhere warmer than hers ; soldiers nowhere 
braver; patriots nowhere purer; wives and mothers 
nowhere truer ; maidens nowhere loveher ; green 
valleys and bright rivers nowhere greener and brighter ; 
and I will not be silent when I hear her patriotism or 
her truth questioned with so much as a whisper of 
detraction. Living, I will defend her; dying, I would 
pause in my last expiring breath to utter a prayer 
of fond remembrance for my native New England. 

Caleb Cushing. 



24. Iji. Sentences 1-3. That war. — Of 1812. 

Counting the costs. — New England, beheving that such 
a war would ruin what commerce she had, opposed it. 
How does the insertion of as he asserts alter the thought ? 

Wherein lay the taunt? Why should a state not 
count the cost? Might there be a time when it would be 
allowable ? 

How many things concerning the country were forced 
to go elsewhere for their defense? How many concerning 
the North? What do you think of the strength of such 
a statement ? 

What was the motive in asking each question ? 

Treasure. — Not necessarily money. 

What balances how much the State of Massachusetts? 

In what expression are both states included ? 

Sentence 4. How was the taunt a question of 
patriotism ? 

In what way would the army rolls be a test .^ The 
navy lists? The treasury hooks? 

Express in your own words the ground covered by 
Mr. Cushing in %i... 



278 TEACHING TO READ 

^2. What were the extremities? Why were they 
borne ? Under what circumstances might strong men 
" -pine " ? He does not say they willfully misrepre- 
sent ; he says " they little know,^' — " they forget,^^ 
— they ^^ have looked only on the surface of things.'^ 
Fetched, drawn as from a source. Obs. 
On, you noblest English 
Whose blood is fetched from fathers of war proof. 
King Henry the Fifth. Act III. Scene I — William Shakespeare. 

Give the gist of ^[2. 

^3. Sentence i. Did 1[2 treat more particularly of 
war on land or on water ? 

Sentences 2-6. What was the motive for asking 
these questions .^ What answer does the speaker know 
must be given .^ Why is it more effective to make him 
(and the hearers) answer the questions than to tell them } 

Sentence 3. What were some of the victories .f* 

Who were some of the best-known New England 
leaders ? 

Sentence 4. For what does the Red Cross of England 
stand ? 

Unwonted (wun), unaccustomed. 

Sentence 6. What were some of the maritime en- 
counters? In what way were New Englanders /of(?moj^^ 
What is the difference between pride and power? To 
what war does he allude t 

Give the gist of ^3. 

Trace the line of argument thus far. 

What is the speaker aiming to prove .^ 

^[4. What is the motive in asking the questions ? 

Mr. Cashing was born in Essex Co., Mass., in 1800. He 
served four terms in Congress (183 5-1 843). 



INTERROGATION AND EXCLAMATION 279 

Who would the colleague be ? 

What was the Old Colony? 

Give the gist of \^. 

^5. House. — Of Representatives. Do you think 
his ardor unseemly? Does the apology weaken or 
strengthen his argument ? — Why ? 

In what way would silence have been acquiescent? 
Humble ? 

In what way does sentence i, Ifi, cast reflections on 
the faith of Massachusetts? On the honor? 

Why were the reflections unjust ? Which word shows 
that the speaker was sure they were ? 

Give the gist of ^5. 

^6. What is the meaning of admonition? Deemed? 
Disembodied spirits? Departed children (Whose) ? 
Stricken field? Consecrated earth? Visible shape? 
Recreant countryman? (Why countryman) ? Why 
should they cry shame on him ? 

Give the gist of ^6. 

If7. Sentence i. Sir. — Why the direct address? 
To whom is it directed ? 

Roamed the world. — While still a young man Mr. Gushing 
spent two years abroad ; later, he was sent as commissioner 
to China. He was a brigadier general in the Mexican War. 

Trace the semicolons. How many parts has the 
series .? Is what follows the last semicolon a part of 
the series .^ 

What does the last and connect ? Ans. 

Sir, I have roamed through the world to find, etc., 

and 
I will not be silent when I hear, etc. 



28o TEACHING TO READ 

Reread, applying your knowledge of Interrogation : 

Chap. I. No. 28. 

Chap. IV. No. 27 (stanza 3). 

Chap. V. Nos. 13, 31. 

Chap. VI. Nos. 34, 49. 

Chap. VII. Nos. 17, 40, 43, 53. 

Chap. VIII. Nos. 16, 17. 

Chap. X. No. 10. 

Part II. Exclamation 

1. Come quickly ! We need your help at once ! 

2. Ugh ! The thought of the reptile made him 
shudder. 

3. Alas ! the spring which had watered this oasis 
was dried up. 

4. How slowly the old moon wanes ! 

5. Hark ! hark ! the lark at heaven's gate sings. 

Cymheline. Act II. Scene III — William Shakespeare. 



1-3. When you have looked into the motive in each 
case, from the standpoint of both cause and effect, con- 
sider the punctuation and learn to notice its message. 
Compare No. 2 and No. i. Notice that both parts of 
No. I are marked as strongly emotional, while the sec- 
ond part of No. 2 is followed by a period. Compare 
No. 3 and No. 2. Notice that the author expresses two 
separate ideas in No. 2, while the author of No. 3 in- 
dicates a closer relation between the two parts. — How ^ 

4. Do not hurry the moon. 



INTERROGATION AND EXCLAMATION 281 

6. Help thou thy brother's boat across, and lo ! 
thine own hath reached the shore. Hindu Proverb, 

7. The clock is striking midnight ; how suggestive 
and solemn is the sound ! 

8. How far that little candle throws his beams ! 
So shines a good deed in a naughty world. 

The Merchant of Venice. ActV. Scene I — William Shakespeare. 

9. I entered the town a candle snufFer, and I quitted 
it a hero ! 

10. Forward ! let us do or die ! 

11. Traitor ! Coward ! turn and flee ! 

12. A horse ! a horse ! my kingdom for a horse ! 

King Richard the Third. ActV. Scene IV — William Shakespeare. 



5. What custom of the lark warrants the hyperbole 1 

6. Lo, an interjection used to excite particular attention. 
Express the thought in other words. 

7. Does the emotional element color the first half \ 

8. Compare with No. 7. The order of statement and 
exclamation is reversed. Invent a context that would 
change the statement to an exclamation. 

9. Wherein lies the reason for strong feeling ? 

12. King Richard at Bosworth Field, the final battle of 
the Wars of the Roses. His horse has been shot from under 
him, and he is still seeking the Earl of Richmond, afterwards 
Henry VH, by whom he is soon slain. 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ — I9 



282 TEACHING TO READ 

13. (a) Oh for a lodge in some vast wilderness ! 

(b) Oh, oh, oh ! how my head does ache ! 

(c) Oh, how do you do ? I was not expecting you ! 

(d) Oh, a dainty plant is the Ivy green ! 

14. You set us a good example, your own temper is 
so angelic ! 

15. That man virtuous ! ! You might as well preach 
to me of the virtue of Judas Iscariot ! ! 

16. What a piece of work is man ! how noble in 
reason ! how infinite in faculty ! in form and moving 
how express and admirable ! in action how like an angel ! 
in apprehension how like a god ! the beauty of the 
world ! the paragon of animals ! 

Hamlet. Act II. Scene II — William Shakespeare. 



13. Emotional OA, which may be followed either by 
the exclamation point or the comma, and which is 
found occasionally without a punctuation mark, 
chiefly denotes wishing, suffering, surprise, or admira- 
tion. Which does it denote in each example ? 

14. The exclamation point indicates sarcasm. 

15. Double exclamation points bespeak an extraor- 
dinary degree of emotion. Although punctuated 
as separate sentences, the second part is dependent 
upon the first for clearness. 

When the foregoing exercises have been practiced 
singly, have two exercises read by one pupil, ^ — -for in- 
stance. No. I and No. 2, or No. i and No. 3, — and find 
how many can change promptly and successfully from 
one emotion to another. 



INTERROGATION AND EXCLAMATION 283 

17. The war, that for a space did fail, 

Now trebly thundering swelled the gale, 

And " Stanley ! " was the cry. — 
A Kght on Marmion's visage spread. 

And fired his glazing eye ; 
With dying hand above his head 
He shook the fragment of his blade. 

And shouted " Victory ! — 
Charge, Chester, charge ! On, Stanley, on ! " 
Were the last words of Marmion. 

Marmion. Canto Sixth — Sir Walter Scott. 



16. A series of exclamatory portions. 

Read the introductory exclamation. Note that the 
portions that follow are independent of one another, 
but that each is dependent upon the introductory sen- 
tence to make its meaning complete. 

17. The war, the Battle of Flodden, — between the Eng- 
lish and Scotch. 

Marmion, the famous but fictitious knight of the romance, 
who, mortally wounded, has been borne from the field. 

Stanley, commander of the English left wing, who has 
routed the Scottish right wing, and timely arrived at a posi- 
tion to help Surrey, who is being hard pressed by King James 
of Scotland. Chester, another Enghsh leader. 

An anecdote is told by Mr. Hutton illustrative of the hold 
that Scott's poetry took upon the minds of men. '' I have 
heard," says he, " of two old men — complete strangers — 
passing each other on a dark London night, when one of them 
happened to be repeating to himself . . . the last fines of the 
account of Flodden Field in ' Marmion,' ' Charge, Chester, 
Charge,' when suddenly a reply came out of the darkness, 
' On, Stanley, on,' whereupon they finished the death of 



284 TEACHING TO READ 

18. The British are at eight rods distance. 

" Now, men ! now is your time ! " says the veteran 
Prescott. " Make ready ! take aim ! fire ! " 

The smoke clears away and the whole hillside is 
covered with the dead. The British return the fire : 
they rally : they attempt to advance. In vain. Victory ! 
victory ! They have turned their backs : they are 
flying from the field. Thus ends the first attack. 

Alexander Hill Everett. 

19. O Alcohol ! thou withering curse of earth, 
To untold sorrows hast thou given birth ; 
Lost souls and blighted homes and lives attest 
The crimes committed at thy stern behest. 

Lost L. M. CUNARD. 



Marmion between them, took off their hats to each other, 
and parted, laughing." 

18. ^2. Exclamatory commands to which is joined 
a very common form of explanation. Study the punc- 
tuation and the capitalization and observe that the 
command is made up of parts. 

^3. Notice the close effect given to the actions by 
the use of colons. 

Who says Victory? Ans. The author, who is 
living the scene in imagination, and writing in the pres- 
ent tense. 

19. Emotion shown in personification and direct 
address combined. 

Changing marks of punctuation is frequently a ben- 
eficial exercise. Place exclamation points after earth, 
birth, and behest, and read accordingly. 



INTERROGATION AND EXCLAMATION 285 

20. Hurrah ! the seaward breezes • 
Sweep down the bay amain; 
Heave up, my lads, the anchor ! 

Run up the sail again ! 
Leave to the lubber landsmen 
The rail-car and the steed ; 
The stars of heaven shall guide us, 
The breath of heaven shall speed. 
• •••••* 

Hurrah ! — hurrah ! — the west wind 

Comes freshening down the bay, 
The rising sails are filhng, — 

Give way, my lads, give way ! 
Leave the coward landsman chnging 

To the dull earth, hke a weed, — 
The stars of heaven shall guide us. 

The breath of heaven shall speed ! 

The Fishermen — John Greenleaf Whittier. 



20. Where enthusiasm for one's work plays upon the 

emotions. 

What is the meaning and use of Hurrah? What are 
seaward breezes? How do the stars of heaven guide? 
How does the breath of heaven speed? Meaning of 
heave up? Lubber landsmen? How do they run up 
the sail? Etc. 

Be brief; do not lose time, but remember that pupils 
cannot be expected to enter enthusiastically mto any 
experience that they have not at least made their own 
in imagination. 

Contrast these commands as to motive with those in 
Nos. 10, II, 17, and 18. Let short contrasting com- 
mands be read by single pupils. See who can change 
from one motive to another most successfully. 



286 TEACHING TO READ 

21. Hurrah ! the Kfeboat dashes on, 

Though dark!}' the reef may frown ; 
The rock is there — the ship is gone 
Full twenty fathoms down. 
5 But, cheered by hope, the seamen cope 
With the billows single-handed : 
They are all in the boat ! — hurrah ! they're 
afloat ! — 
And now they are safely landed. 
By the lifeboat ! Cheer the lifeboat ! 
lo Hurrah ! hurrah for the lifeboat ! 

The Lifeboat. (Adapted.) 

22. What a fascination there is in really good read- 
ing ! What a power it gives one ! In the hospital, in 
the chamber of the invalid, in the nursery, in the 
domestic and in the social circle, among chosen friends 
and companions, how it enables you to minister to 
the amusement, the comfort, the pleasure, of dear ones, 
as no other art or accomplishment can. No instru- 
ment of man's devising can reach the heart as does that 
most wonderful instrument, the human voice. It is 
God's special gift to his chosen creatures. Fold it not 
away in a napkin. jo^^^ Seeley Hart. 



21. How does the emotional motive of this Hurrah 
differ from that of the Hurrah in No. 20 .^ 
What relation does line 2 bear to line i .^ 
What rock is referred to ? 

Fathom, the space to which a man can extend his arms ; — 
used chiefly in measuring cables, cordage, or depth of water 
by sounding. Six feet or, formerly, five and a half or five. 

Cope, to enter into or maintain a hostile contest; to 
struggle. Now, usually to strive or contend on equal terms 
or with a measure of success. 



INTERROGATION AND EXCLAMATION 287 

23. ROME AND CARTHAGE 

From Fragment d'Histoire. 

^ Rome and Carthage ! — behold them drawing near 
for the struggle that is to shake the world 1 ^ Carthage, 
the metropolis of Africa, is the mistress of oceans, of 
kingdoms, and of nations ; a magnificent cit}^, burdened 
with opulence, radiant with the strange arts and trophies 
of the East. ^ She is at the acme of her civihzation ; 
she can mount no higher ; any change now must be 
a decline. ^ Rome is comparatively poor. ^ She has 
seized all within her grasp, but rather from the lust 
of conquest than to fill her own coffers. ^ She is semi- 
barbarous, and has her education and her fortune both 
to get. '^ All is before her, nothing behind. 

^ For a time these two nations exist in view of each 
other. ^ The one reposes in the noontide of her splen- 
dor ; the other waxes strong in the shade. ^ But, 
little by little, air and space are wanting to each for 
her development. ^ Rome begins to perplex Carthage, 
and Carthage is an eyesore to Rome. ^ Seated on 
opposite banks of the Mediterranean, the two cities 



Cheered by what hope (line 5) ? 

What details of the story between lines 6 and 7 are 
left to the imagination .? Between the first half of fine 
7 and the second half.? Between fine 7 and fines 8 
and 9 .? 

What does the absence of the capital at the beginning 
of hurrah (line 7) indicate .? 

How does the emotional motive of the second 
hurrah (line 7) differ from the first (line i) .? The third 
and fourth (line 10) from the second ^. 

22. How does really good reading give one power in 



288 TEACHING TO READ 

look each other in the face. ^ The sea no longer keeps 
them apart. ^ Europe and Africa weigh upon each 
other. ^ Like two clouds surcharged with electricity, 
they impend ; with their contact must come the thun- 
der shock. 

^ The catastrophe of this splendid drama is at hand. 
^ What actors are met ! ^ Two races, that of merchants 
and mariners, that of laborers and soldiers ; two 
nations, the one dominant by gold, the other by steel ; 
two republics, the one theocratic, the other aristocratic. 
^ Rome and Carthage 1 ^ Rome with her arm}^, 
Carthage with her fleet ; Carthage, old, rich, and crafty, 
— Rome, young, poor, robust ; the past, and the 
future ; the spirit of discovery, and the spirit of con- 
quest ; the genius of commerce, the demon of war ; 
the East and South on one side, the West and North 
on the other ; in short, two worlds, — the civilization of 
Africa, and the civilization of Europe. 

^ They measure each other from head to foot. ^ They 
gather their forces. ^ Gradually the war kindles. 
^ The world takes fire. ^ The colossal powers are locked 
in deadly strife. ^ Carthage has crossed the Alps ; 
Rome, the seas. '^ The two nations, personified in two 
men, Hannibal and Scipio, close with each other, 
wrestle, and grow infuriate. ^ The duel is desperate. 
^ It is a struggle for life. ^^ Rome wavers ; she utters 
that cry of anguish, — " Hannibal at the gates ! " 
^^ But she rallies, — collects all her strength for one 
last, appalhng effort, — throws herself upon Carthage, 
and sweeps her from the face of the earth ! 

Victor Hugo. 



each of the places mentioned ^ Let appreciation of the 
truth of the arguments color the exclamations. 

God's special gift; fold it not away in a napkin. — A 
reference to the parable of the talents. 



INTERROGATION AND EXCLAMATION 289 

23. Tfi. Sentence i. The struggle. — The Punic wars, 
which extended over more than a hundred years. 

Sentence 2. Carthage was six centuries old. She was 
at this time one of the greatest maritime powers of the world. 
Her merchant ships covered the Mediterranean. Three 
hundred cities in Africa paid her tribute. She had made 
extensive conquests in Spain, controlled all of Sardinia, and 
a large part of Sicily. 

Sentences 4, 5- Rome was almost five centuries old. 
She had fought her way to the complete dominion of her 
peninsula; but her wars had been on land, and the dominion 
referred to had only recently been established. 

Sentence 6. Carthage was of Phoenician origin. The 
Phoenicians were the greatest navigators and merchants of 
antiquity. They were also one of the most enterprising and 
intellectual of nations. Tyre and Sidon were in Phoenicia, 
and Carthage was founded by a Tyrian princess (Dido). 
The Romans were a mixture of early Italian tribes. 

1|2. Sentence 2. Why noontide? 

^3. Sentence 3. Aristocratic, consisting in, or favoring, 
a government of nobles, or principal men. 

Theocratic, pertaining to government of a state by the 
immediate direction or administration of God ; hence, gov- 
ernment or political rule by priests as representing the 
Deity. (Webster.) 

^[4. Sentence 6. Crossed the Alps. — Hannibal first and 
later his brother, Hasdrubal, in the Second Punic War. 
They came around from Spain, crossing first the Pyrenees. 

Rome, the seas. — When Scipio had conquered Spain, he 
was sent into Africa, and was recalled to defend his own 
country against the Carthaginians. 

Sentence 7. Close with each other. — The battle of Zama, 
which ended the Second Punic War. 



290 TEACHING TO READ 

24. THE LAUNCH OF THE SHIP 
From The Building of the Ship. 

" Build me straight, O worthy Master ! 

Staunch and strong, a goodl}^ vessel, 
That shall laugh at all disaster. 

And with wave and whirlwind wrestle ! " 

5 The merchant's word 
Delighted the Master heard ; 
For his heart was in his work, and the heart 
Giveth grace unto every Art. 
And with a voice that was full of glee, 
10 He answered, " Erelong we will launch 
A vessel as goodly, and strong, and staunch, 
As ever weathered a wintry sea ! " 

All is finished ! and at length 

Has come the bridal day 
IS Of beauty and of strength. 

To-day the vessel shall be launched ! 

With fleecy clouds the sky is blanched. 

And o'er the bay, 

Slowly, in all his splendors dight, 
20 The great sun rises to behold the sight. 

The ocean old. 

Centuries old, 

Strong as youth, and as uncontrolled, 

Paces restless to and fro, 
25 Up and down the sands of gold. 

His beating heart is not at rest ; 

And far and wide. 

With ceaseless flow. 

His beard of snow 
30 Heaves with the heaving of his breast. 

He waits impatient for his bride. 



INTERROGATION AND EXCLAMATION 29 1 

There she stands, 
With her foot upon the sands, 
Decked with Hags and streamers gay, 
35 In honor of her marriage day. 

Her snow-white signals fluttering, blending. 
Round her like a veil descending. 
Ready to be 
The bride of the gray old sea. 

40 Then the Master, 

With a gesture of command, 

Waved his hand ; 

And at the word. 

Loud and sudden there was heard, 
45 All around them and below. 

The sound of hammers, blow on blow. 

Knocking away the shores and spurs. 

And see ! she stirs 1 

She starts, — she moves, — she seems to feel 
50 The thrill of life along her keel. 

And, spurning with her foot the ground, 

With one exulting, joyous bound. 

She leaps into the ocean's arms 1 

And lo ! from the assembled crowd 
55 There rose a shout, prolonged and loud. 

That to the ocean seemed to say, 

" Take her, O bridegroom, old and gray. 

Take her to thy protecting arms, 

With all her youth and all her charms ! " 
60 How beautiful she is ! how fair 

She lies within those arms, that press 

Her form with many a soft caress 

Of tenderness and watchful care ! 

Sail forth into the sea, O ship ! 
6s Through wind and wave, right onward steer ! 

The moistened eye, the trembling lip. 

Are not the signs of doubt or fear. 



292 TEACHING TO READ 

Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State ! 
Sail on, O Union, strong and great ! 

70 Humanity with all its fears. 

With all the hopes of future years. 
Is hanging breathless on thy fate ! 
We know what Master laid thy keel. 
What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steely 

75 Who made each mast, and sail, and rope, 
What anvils rang, what hammers beat, 
In what a forge and what a heat 
Were shaped the anchors of thy hope ! 
Fear not each sudden sound and shock, 

80 'Tis of the wave and not the rock; 
^Tis but the flapping of the sail. 
And not a rent made by the gale ! 
In spite of rock and tempest's roar. 
In spite of false lights on the shore, 

8s Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea ! 
Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee. 
Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, 
Our faith triumphant o'er our fears, 
Are all with thee, — are all with thee ! 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. (Abridged.) 



24. Interwoven with the building of the ship and its 
launching is the romance of the shipbuilder and his mar- 
riage. So accustomed are we to the arrangement given that 
comparatively few know that 

" On the deck [of the ship] another bride 
Is standing by her lover's side." 

She is the daughter of the old Master who planned the 
ship, and the bride of the young man who built it, for the 
father had promised the lover: 

" The day that gives her [the ship] unto the sea 
Shall give my daughter unto thee." 



INTERROGATION AND EXCLAMATION 293 

They are married on board the beautiful new ship, just 
before the Master "with a gesture of command" (Hne 41) 
gives the signal. To her the author makes a direct address 
following and balancing the direct address to the ship, lines 
64-67 : .. g^ji f^^^Yi into the sea of life, 

O gentle, loving, trusting wife, 

And safe from all adversity 

Upon the bosom of that sea 

Thy comings and thy goings be!" 

The presence of the closing apostrophe to the national 
Union, its aptness, and the ease with which the poet intro- 
duces it, are easily appreciated when we know that the 
name of the launched vessel was " Union." 

" Only what is sound and strong 
To this vessel shall belong. 

And the Union be her name! " 

*' The Building of the Ship " is a symbolic national 
poem. Finding symbols of life in a mechanical process, and 
using them for the development of a poem was not new with 
Mr. Longfellow. Schiller, in his " L3.y of the Bell," published 
nearly fifty years before, showed the various phases of 
human life symbolized in the casting of a church bell, which 
he traces from the smelting and purifying of the metal, in 
which he sees the years of childhood and youth, to the time 
when it is swung into place above the houses of men to pro- 
claim the message of its name, " Concordia," which means 
harmony. 

Lines 1-4. The order. Division i. What does 
the exclamation point at the end of line i tell you .? 

Explain line 3 ; line 4. Only three lines are used for 
the description of the ship. — Would any elaboration 
make the requirements clearer to our minds ^ Lead 



294 TEACHING TO READ 

the pupils to appreciate the poetic skill that can en- 
compass so much in so few words. 

Lines 5-12. The acceptance of the order. 

Why would a Master be delighted with such an order .? 
Notice that there have been no limitations ; cost has 
not been considered, work begins at once, and he is 
free to do his best. 

How does the heart give grace unto every Art? Mean- 
ing of grace ? 

Study the Master's reply. Do you see in it conceit, 
or a consciousness of power .? 

What does your imagination see in weathering a 
wintry sea? 

Line 13, Clause i. The consummation of the order. 

Between lines 12 and 13 there are nearly 250 lines in the 
complete poem, concerning the working out of the model, 
the gathering of the materials, and the building of the ship, 
interspersed with the wooing of the Master's daughter. 
Scrupulous attention is given to technical details, but not 
in a way that detracts from the general interest of the story. 

When considering the technical side of the poem, it is 
interesting to read that Mr. E. J. Reed, Chief Constructor 
to the English Navy, wrote of it in 1869 as " the finest poem 
on shipbuilding that ever was, or probably ever will be, 
written, — a poem which I often read with the truest pleasure." 

It is also one of the best poems in the language for oral 
reading, in particular to show the relations of sound to sense, 
as in The ocean old, etc. (Division 4), which is intimately 
connected with the undulations of the sea. 

Line 13, Clause 2, to line 59. The launching of the ship. 

This division may be subdivided into the nature 

setting, the bridegroom (ending with hne 31), the bride, 



INTERROGATION AND EXCLAMATION 295 

and the launching proper, — which also, in technical 
study, may be subdivided. 

Shores and spurs, props to hold the hull upright. 

Lines 64-67. The apostrophe to the ship. 

Read the corresponding address to the builder's bride. 

Line 66. Great events stir the emotions in deeply 

interested onlookers. The line finds parallel in the 

portion describing the close of the real marriage, in 

which, 

"the good old Master 
Shakes the brown hand of his son. 
Kisses his daughter's glowing cheek 
In silence, for he cannot speak. 
And ever faster 
Down his own the tears begin to run." 

Lines 68-89. The apostrophe to the national Union. 
Trace the symbolic portions, and understand the ref- 
erences in the figurative expressions. Memorize. 

When, in 1788, the city of New York celebrated the adop- 
tion of the Constitution, a ship on wheels, representing the 
" ship of state," was drawn through the streets by ten milk- 
white horses. The name of Alexander Hamilton, who had 
done so riiuch to convince the people of the wisdom of placing 
the power in the hands of a national government, was painted 
in large letters on the platform upholding the vessel. 

Reread, applying your understanding of Exclamation: 

Chap. L Nos. 23, 25. 

Chap. IV. Nos. 18, 20, 22, 24. 

Chap. VL Nos. 29, 30, 33. 

Chap. VIL Nos. 35, 36, 41. 

Chap. IX. Nos. II, 12. 

Chap. X. Nos. 7, II. 



296 TEACHING TO READ 



Part III. Interrogation and Exclamation 

I. ^ A Gourd wound itself around a lofty Palm, and 
in a few days climbed to its very top. ^ " How old 
may'st thoii be ? " asked the newcomer. ^ " About 
a hundred years." '^ *' About a hundred years, and no 
taller ! ^ Only see ! ^ I have grown as tall as you in 
fewer days than you can count years." 

^ " I know that very well," replied the Palm. 
^ " Every summer of my life a gourd has climbed up 
around me, as proud as thou art, and as short-lived as 
thou wilt be ! " 



I. The average pupil can be shown reasons for " try- 
ing again " with even this simple story. The reading 
does not merit one hundred per cent if the reader fails 
to introduce his characters {Gourd and Palm) properly ; 
to note the Gourd's method of climbing {wound) ; the 
majestic height of the Palm {lofty) ; the brief time re- 
quired {a few days) ; the long distance covered {climbed 
to its very top). He should recognize the new topic in 
sentence 2 (the age of the Palm) ; notice the new name 
given the speaker (Why not Gourd again ?) ; be able to 
give the motive for asking the question, and show the 
difference between the story-teller and the speaker, 
and the story-teller's hearer and the speaker's hearer. 
He should recognize and be able to express the emotions 
that cause exclamation points to be placed after sen- 
tence 4 and sentence 5, instead of periods as in sentence 
3, and should bring out the balancing of ideas in sen- 
tence 6. 

To which speaker does one hundred years seem the 
longer ^ 



INTERROGATION AND EXCLAMATION 297 

2. " Our country ! Right or wrong, our country ! " 
is the sentiment always correct ? 

3. When can their glory fade ? 

O the wild charge they made ! 

All the world wonder'd. 
Honor the charge they made ! 
5 Honor the Light Brigade, 

Noble six hundred ! 

The Charge of the Light Brigade — Alfred Tennyson. 

Does the knowledge of the fact (sentence 7) trouble 
the Palm ? 

How many gourds had cKmbed around him ? What 
had become of them ? 

Wherein had the Gourd shown pride ? What quality 
is made to balance pride in sentence 8 ? 

Thou art. — What does thou balance ? . 

Is there a moral to the story ? 

2. One of the closing sentences of Daniel Webster's great 
speech on the occasion of the laying of the corner stone of 
the Bunker Hill monument at Charlestown, Mass,, June 17, 
1825, was: "Let our object be our country, our whole 
COUNTRY, AND NOTHING BUT OUR COUNTRY," — a most ad- 
mirable sentence when taken with the context. 

3. What reply is in the mind of the poet as he writes 
line I ? 

What is the motive of hne 2 ? (Intense admiration.) 
What motives can you see in hnes 4, 5, and 6 .? (Ad- 
miration, patriotic gratitude, and appreciation.) 

The charge. — At Balaklava in Crimea, October 25, 1854. 
Of 607 men, only about 150 survived. 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ — 20 



298 TEACHING TO READ 

4. Political honesty ! ! Where can such a thing be 
found ? 

5. ^ What is Time ! ^ The shadow on the dial, — 
the striking of the clock, — the running of the sand, — 
day and night, — summer and winter, — months, 
years, centuries; — these are but arbitrary and out- 
ward signs, the measure of Time, not Time itself. 
^ Time is the Life of the Soul. ^ If not this, then tell me, 
wnat IS 1 ime . Hyperion — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 

Compare the original interpretation with the following 
altered interpretations as quoted by three different authors : 

{a) ^What is time? — the shadow on the dial? the strik- 
ing of the clock ? the running of the sand ? day and 
night ? summer and winter ? months, years, centuries ? 
2 These are but arbitrary and outward signs, — the measure of 
time, not time itself. ^ Time is the life of the soul. ^ If not 
this, then tell me what is time ? 



Study lines 5 and 6 carefully, with a view to under- 
* standing the presence of the comma. 

4. Compare with No. 15 under Exclamation. 

5. In " Hyperion " {Chapter VI), the paragraph 
is introduced by For and follows the statement that 
Time moves more swiftly with some than with 
others. 

Study carefully the interpretation as indicated by 
Mr. Longfellow, and then compare a, by and c. His 
question is an emotional one (What strong feehng 
prompted it .^) ; a, b, and c rob it of feehng. J, b, 



INTERROGATION AND EXCLAMATION 299 

(Jb) ^ What is time ? — the shadow on the dial, — the strik- 
ing of th€ clock, — the running of the sand, — day and night, 

— summer and winter, — months, years, centuries ? ^ These 
are but arbitrary and outward signs, — the measure of time, 
not time itself. ^ Time is the life of the soul. * If not this, 

— then tell me, what is time ? 

(r) ^ What is time ? ^ Xhe shadow on the dial, the striking 
of the clock, the running of the sand, day and night, summer 
and winter, months, years, centuries. ^ These are but arbi- 
trary and outward signs, the measure of time, not time itself. 
*Time is the life of the soul. ^ If not this, then tell me what 
is time .? 



and c make two parts to his sentence 2, using the first 
half to answer the question. A says, " Is it the shadow on 
the dial? the striking of the clock? " etc., making each a 
separate query ; h says the same, using one query made 
up of a series of parts whose individual importance is 
indicated to the reader by means of the dashes ; c, 
using the comma alone, suggests less individual im- 
portance, and also weakens the methodical grouping 
which the " Professor," in " Hyperion," used : 

The shadow on the dial, — the striking of the clock, — 
the running of the sand (instruments for measuring time) ; 
— day and night (darkness and daylight) ; — summer 
and winter (seasons) ; — months, years, centuries (nu- 
merical measures of time). 

C says, " What is time? It is the shadow on the 
dial,"" etc. A and h say, " What is time? Is it the 
shadow on the dial?'' etc. The "Professor" says, 
" What is Time! The things that we usually term 
time are but measures of time." 



300 TEACHING TO READ 

6. There is a land, of every land the pride, 
Beloved by heaven o'er all the world beside ; 

There is a spot of earth supremely blest, 
A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest. 

" Where shall that land, that spot of earth be 

found ? " 
Art thou a man ? — a patriot ? — look around ; 
Oh, thou shalt find, howe'er thy footsteps roam. 
That land thy country, and that spot thy home ! 

Patriotism — James Montgomery. 

7. To every created thing God has given a tongue 
that proclaims a resurrection. If the Father deigns 
to touch with divine power the cold and pulseless heart 
of the buried acorn and to make it burst forth from its 
prison walls, will He leave neglected in the earth the 
soul of man, made in the image of his Creator '^. If He 
stoops to give to the rosebush, whose withered blossoms 
float upon the autumn breeze, the sweet assurance of 
another springtime, will He refuse the words of hope 
to the sons of men when the frosts of winter come '^. 
If matter, mute and inanimate, though changed by the 
forces of nature into a multitude of forms, can never 
die, will the spirit of man suffer annihilation when it 
has paid a brief visit like a royal guest to this tenement 
of clay .^ No, I am as sure that there is another life 
as I am that I live to-day ! 

The Prince of Peace — William Jennings Bryan. 



6. What is the motive behind the questions .^ 

Note the narrowing of the thought : There is a land 
. . . There is a spot. 

Line 8. That particular land is whose country? 
That particular spot is whose home? 
Memorize. 



INTERROGATION AND EXCLAMATION 301 

8. ^ The nation rises up at every stage of his coming. 
^ Cities and states are his pallbearers, and the cannon 
beats the hours with solemn progression. ^ Dead, 
dead, dead, he yet speaketh ! ^ Is Washington dead ? 
^ Is Hampden dead ? ^ Is David dead ? ^ Is any man 
that was ever fit to live dead ^ ^ Disenthralled of flesh, 
and risen in the unobstructed sphere where passion 
never comes, he begins his illimitable work. . . . 

^ Four years ago, O Illinois, we took from your midst 
an untried man, and from among the people. ^ We 
return him to you a mighty conqueror. ^ Not thine 
any more, but the nation's ; not ours, but the world's. 
^ Give him place, O ye prairies ! ^ In the midst of this 
great continent his dust shall rest, a sacred treasure 
to myriads who shall pilgrim to that shrine to kindle 
anew their zeal and patriotism. ^ Ye winds that move 
over the mighty places of the West, chant requiem ! 
^ Ye people, behold a martyr whose blood, as so many 
articulate words, pleads for fidelity, for law, for liberty ! 

Funeral Oration on Abraham Lincoln — Henry Ward Beecher. 



7. Argumentative questions containing conditional 
clauses. 

What strong feeling warrants the exclamation point .^ 

8. l[i. Sentences 1-3. How were cities and states 
his pallbearers? What part had the cannon in his 
burial .? Dead^ dead, dead {cannon heats), he yet speaketh, 
— opposed contrasting ideas. What is the strong 
feeling .^ 

Sentences 4-7. What answer must be given to each 
one of the series of questions ? Why are they asked } 
Notice how the argument broadens with Is any man. 

Sentence 8. He begins, — in contrast with dead. 

\2. Sentences 1-3. Trace the balanced parts: 



302 TEACHING TO READ 

. 9. THE IMPARTIALITY OF NATURE 
From Birds and Poets. 

Whenever Nature has commissioned one creature to 
prey upon another, she has preserved the balance by 
forewarning that other creature of what she has done. 
Nature says to the cat, " Catch the mouse," and she 
equips her for that purpose ; but on the self-same day 
she says to the mouse, " Be wary, — the cat is watching 
for you." Nature takes care that none of her creatures 
have smooth sailing, the whole voyage at least. Why 
has she not made the mosquito noiseless and its bite 
itchless \ Simply because the odds would be too greatly 
in its favor. She has taken especial pains to enable 
the owl to fly softly and silently, because the creatures 
it preys upon are small and wary, and never venture 
far from their holes. She has not shown the same 
caution in the case of the crow, because the crow feeds 
upon dead flesh, or on grubs and beetles, or fruit or 
grain, that do not need to be approached stealthily. 
The big fish love to eat up the little fish, and the little 
fish know it, and, on the very day they are hatched, 
seek shallow water, and put little sand bars between 
themselves and their too loving parents. 

How easily a bird's tail, or that of any fowl, or in fact 
any part of the plumage, comes out when the hold of 

We took We return him to you 

an untried man 

and a mighty conqueror 

from among the people 

Not thine but the nation's 

not ours but the world's 

Note the gradation in the last two portions. 

9. Remembering the title of the selection will some- 
times help to promote correct reading. 



INTERROGATION AND EXCLAMATION 303 

its would-be captor is upon this alone ; and how hard 
it yields in the dead bird ! No doubt there is relaxa- 
tion in the former case. Nature says to the pursuer, 
" Hold on," and to the pursued, " Let your tail go." 
What is the tortuous, zigzag course of those slow-flying 
moths for, but to make it difficult for the birds to snap 
them up ^ The skunk is a slow, witless creature, and 
the fox and lynx love its meat ; yet it carries a bloodless 
weapon that neither likes to face. 

I recently heard of an ingenious method a certain 
other simple and slow-going creature has of baffling its 
enemy. A friend of mine was walking in the fields 
when he saw a commotion in the grass a few yards off". 
Approaching the spot, he found a snake — the common 
garter snake — trying to swallow a lizard. And how 
do you suppose the lizard was defeating the benevolent 
designs of the snake ? By simply taking hold of its 
own tail and making itself into a hoop. The snake went 
round and round and could find neither beginning nor 
end. Who was the old giant that found himself 
wrestling with Time ^ This little snake had a tougher 
customer the other day in the bit of eternity it was 
trying to swallow. ... 

This arming of one creature against another is often 
cited as an evidence of the wisdom of Nature, but it is 
rather an evidence of her impartiality. . . . Every 
creature must take its own chances. . . . Nature is 
thoroughly selfish, and looks only to her own ends. 
One thing she is bent upon, and that is keeping up the 
supply, multiplying endlessly and scattering as she 
multiplies. Did Nature have in view our delectation 
when she made the apple, the peach, the plum, the 
cherry .? Undoubtedly, but only as a means to her 
own private ends. What a bribe or a wage is the pulp 
of these delicacies to all creatures to come and sow their 
seed ! And Nature has taken care to make the seed 
indigestible, so that, though the fruit be eaten, the 
germ is not, but only planted. John Burroughs. 



304 TEACHING TO READ 

lO. YOUNG MEN, AHOY! 

I remember riding from Buffalo to Niagara Falls, 
and I said to a gentleman, " What river is that, sir ? " 
"That," he said, "is Niagara River." "It is a beauti- 
ful stream," said I, "bright, smooth, and glassy; how 
far off are the Rapids ?" "Only a few miles," was the 
reply. "Is it possible that only a few miles from us we 
shall find the water in the turbulence which it must 
show when near the Rapids ? " " You will find it so, 
sir." And so I found it, and that first sight of Niagara 
Falls I shall never forget. 

Now, launch your bark on that river; the water is 
smooth, beautiful, and glassy. There is a ripple at the 
bow of your boat, and the silvery wake it leaves behind 
adds to your enjoyment. You set out on your pleasure 
excursion. Down the stream you glide ; oars, sails, and 
helm in proper trim. 

Suddenly some one cries out from the bank, " Young 
men, ahoy !" "What is it .^" " The rapids are below 
you." " Ha, ha ! we have heard of the rapids, but we 
are not such fools as to get into them. When we find 
we are going too fast, then we shall up with the helm 
and steer to the shore ; we will set the mast in the 
socket, hoist the sail, and speed to land. Then on, boys, 
don't be alarmed, there's no danger." 

" Young men, ahoy there ! " " What is it ? " 
"The rapids are below you." "Ha, ha! What care 
we ! This is enjoyment. Time enough to steer out of 
danger when we are sailing too swiftly with the current." 

" Young men, ahoy ! " " What is it ? " " Beware, 
beware ! the rapids are below you." Now 3^ou feel 
them ! See the water foaming all around ! See how 
fast you pass that point ! Up with the helm ! Now 
turn ! Pull hard ; quick, quick ! Pull for your lives ! 
Pull till the blood starts from the nostrils, and the veins 
stand like whipcord upon the brow. Set the mast in the 
socket, hoist the sail ! Ah, ah, it is too late; faster and 



INTERROGATION AND EXCLAMATION 305 

faster you near the awful cataract, and then, shrieking 
hopelessly, over you go. 

Thousands launch their barks in smooth water and 
realize no danger till on the verge of ruin, boasting all the 
while to the last, "When I find out that it is injuring 
me, then I will give it up." 

John Bartholomew Gough. (Abridged.) 

II. THE CHARACTER OF CHARLES THE FIRST 

From the Essay on Milton. 

^ The advocates of Charles, like the advocates of 
other malefactors against whom overwhelming evidence 
is produced, generally decline all controversy about 
the facts, and content themselves with calling testi- 
mony to character. ^ He had so many private virtues ! 
^ And had James II no private virtues ^ ^ Was Oliver 
Cromwell, his bitterest enemies themselves being judges, 
destitute of private virtues ^ ^ And what, after all, are 
the virtues ascribed to Charles ^ ® A religious zeal, 
not more sincere than that of his son, and fully as weak 



10. During the first reading of the selection, pause 
at each question and exclamation long enough to de- 
termine the motive before attempting expression. 

Strive to keep the manner of expression as natural 
and direct as possible. 

How many speakers in ^i ? Ans. Two : the 
storj^-teller and the " gentleman." How many hearers .? 
Ans. Three : the storj^-teller's hearers, the " gentle- 
man," and the story-teller. Keep them separate. 

11. ^i. Be careful of the phrasing of sentence i. 
Malefactor, one guilty of an offense at the law. 



306 TEACHING TO READ 

and narrow-minded, and a few of the ordinary house- 
hold decencies, which half the tombstones in England 
claim for those who lie beneath them. '^ A good 
father ! ^ A good husband ! ^ Ample apologies, 
indeed, for fifteen years of persecution, tyranny, and 
falsehood ! 

^ We charge him with having broken his coronation 
oath, — and we are told that he kept his marriage vow ! 
^ We accuse him of having given up his people to the 
merciless inflictions of the most hot-headed and hard- 
hearted of prelates, — and the defense is, that he took 
his little son on his knee and kissed him ! ^ We 
censure him for having violated the articles of the Pe- 
tition of Right, after having, for good and valuable 
consideration, promised to observe them, — and we 
are informed that he was accustomed to hear prayers 
at six o'clock in the morning ! ^ It is to such considera- 
tions as these, together with his Vandyke dress, his 
handsome face, and his peaked beard, that he owes, we 
verily believe, most of his popularity with the present 
generation. 

^ For ourselves, we own that we do not understand 
the common phrase, — a good man, but a bad king. 
^ We can as easily conceive a good man and an unnatural 
father, or a good man and a treacherous friend. ^We 
cannot, in estimating the character of an individual, 
leave out of our consideration his conduct in the most 
important of all human relations. ^ And if in that 
relation we find him to have been selfish, cruel, and 
deceitful, we shall take the liberty to call him a bad 
man, in spite of all his temperance at table, and all his 
regularity at chapel. 

Thomas Babington Macaulay. 

Express more fully the thought of the exclamatory 
portions. 

Determine the motive for asking each question. 



INTERROGATION AND EXCLAMATION 307 

James II, a very unpopular king of England who had been 
obliged to flee from the country. 

Cromwell. — Lord Protector of England from 1653 to 1658. 
His powerful influence with both the army and Parliament 
was used against the measures of Charles I, who was finally 
charged with treason, tried, found guilty, and beheaded. 
On the anniversary of the death of that king, during the 
reign of his son Charles II, the. body of Cromwell was dis- 
interred, hanged on the gallows, decapitated, and fixed on 
the Westminster Hall. 

^2. Notice not only the contrast in the two portions 
of each exclamatory sentence, but also the difference in 
strength of the balanced expressions : 

We charge we are told 

We accuse the defense is 

We censure we are informed 

Coronation oath. A solemn promise regarding his rela- 
tion to his people, to Parliament, to the laws and customs of 
his country, to the Church of England and the preservation 
of its rights and privileges. 

Prelate. Archbishop Laud, under whose influence those 
changes were made in the liturgy and ritual of the established 
church of England, which influenced many of the Puritans 
to emigrate to this country. 

Petition of Right, an emphatic statement of the privileges 
of the people of England as conferred upon them by previous 
enactments. Adopted by Parliament in the third year of the 
reign of Charles I. 

^[3. Observe not only the balancing of phrases, but 
of words within the phrases : 

a good man but a bad king 

a good man and an unnatural father a bad man 

a good man and a treacherous friend 



308 TEACHING TO READ 



12. LIBERTY OR DEATH 

From the Speech to the Delegates in the Second Virginia Convention, 

March 28, I77S- 

^ They tell us, sir, that we are weak, — unable to 
cope with so formidable an adversary. ^ But when 
shall we be stronger .? ^ Will it be the next week, or 
the next year .^ ^ Will it be when we are totally dis- 
armed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in 
every house .? ^ Shall we gather strength by irresolu- 
tion and inaction .^ ^ Shall we acquire the means of 
effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs, 
and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our 
enemies shall have bound us hand and foot .^ ^ Sir, 
we are not weak, if we make a proper use of those* 
means which the God of nature hath placed in our 
power. ^ Three millions of people, armed in the holy 
cause of Liberty, and in such a country as that which 
we possess, are invincible by any force which our 
enemy can send against us. 

^ Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. 
^ There is a just God, who presides over the destinies 
of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our 
battles for us. ^ The battle, sir, is not to the strong 
alone ; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. 
^ Besides, sir, we have no election. ^ If we were base 
enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the 
contest. ^ There is no retreat but in submission and 
slavery ! ^ Our chains are forged. ^ Their clanking 
may be heard on the plains of Boston ! ^ The war is 
inevitable, — and let it come ! ^^ I repeat it, sir, let it 
come ! ^^ It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. 
^^ Gentlemen may cry peace, peace ! but there is no 
peace. ^^ The war has actually begun ! ^^ The next 
gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears 
the clash of resounding arms ! ^^ Our brethren are 
already in the field ! ^^ Why stand we here idle .? 



INTERROGATION AND EXCLAMATION 309 

^^ What Is it that the gentlemen wish ? ^^ What would 
they have ? ^^ Is hfe so dear, or peace so sweet, as to 
be purchased at the price of chains and slavery ? 
^^ Forbid it. Almighty God ! — ^^ I know not what 
course others may take ; but, as for me, give me liberty 
or give me death ! Patrick Henry. 



12. The closing paragraphs of Patrick Henry's most 
famous speech, which stands as one of the strongest and most 
effective appeals ever made to patriotism. An example of 
earnest, impassioned, argumentative composition. 

It was made in support of a resolution that the colony of 
Virginia " be immediately put in a state of defense." 

%i. What argument is Mr. Henry meeting ^ 

What is the first argument that he uses to meet it ^ 

Change sentences 3, 4, 5, and 6 to declarative forms 
and decide whether the form used by Mr. Henr}^ was 
the stronger for his purpose. — Why } 

What is his second argumentative point (sentence 7) ^ 

What thought does Sir, we are not weak balance 1 

Under what conditions are we not weak? 

What three conditions made the Colonies invincible, 
according to his argument (sentence 8) 1 How is the 
first condition strengthened by the second and third ? 

Armed in the holy cause of Liberty. — " Fear ye foes who 
kill for hire ^ " (See stanza 2, No. 13.) 

^2. What is his third argumentative point .? 

^\\?it friends did God raise up .^ 

What is his fourth point (sentence 3) ? 

What is the fifth point (sentence 4) .^ 

Review the five points. 

Study the argumentative strength of sentence 6. 



3IO TEACHING TO READ 

What leads him to repeat (sentence lo) ? Why is he 
wilhng to say let it come? How do you think he felt 
when he said it ? 

What relation does sentence 13 bear to sentence 12 ? 

Sentence 15. Referring to the Committee of Safety 
appointed by the Massachusetts Assembly, Feb. 9, 
1775, to muster the " minutemen " and militia. 

Sentence 19. When did he speak of peace before .? 
Of slavery ? Of chains ? 

Sentence 20. Forbid what ? 

13. Bunker Hill, occupied by about 1500 Americans under 
Prescott, Putnam, and Warren, was a strategic point because 
it overlooked a part of Boston, where 3000 British were 
encamped under General Gage. Gage must drive the Ameri- 
cans from Bunker Hill, or they would drive him from Boston, 
where he had been stationed when the British Parliament 
ordered that the port be closed until the people paid for the 
^100,000 worth of tea they had spilt into its harbor, and 
declared humble submission to the King. 

Stanza 2. Foes who kill for hire. — About 18,000 Hessians 
were sent over to America during the first year of the war. 

Had the " transporting of large armies of foreign merce- 
naries," referred to in the Declaration of Independence, yet 
begun ? 

They re a-fire. — You will remember that three attacks 
were made by the British. The ammunition of the Ameri- 
cans was exhausted in the first and second attacks, and they 
could meet the third attack only with the butt ends of their 
muskets and with clubs and stones. The "Address" is most 
applicable before the second attack, for it was during this 
battle that Howe ordered Charlestown to be fired (Bunker 
Hill is in Charlestown), and there was no leaden rain and 
iron hail to use for the third. 



INTERROGATION AND EXCLAMATION 311 

13. WARREN'S ADDRESS 

At the Battle of Bunker Hill. 

Stand ! the ground's your own, my braves ! 
Will ye give it up to slaves ? 
Will ye look for greener graves ? 

Hope ye mercy still ? 
What's the mercy despots feel ? 
Hear it in that battle peal ! 
Read it on yon bristhng steel ! 

Ask it, — ye who will. 

Fear ye foes who kill for hire ? 
Will ye to your homes retire ? 
Look behind you ! they're a-fire ! 

And, before you, see 
Who have done it ! — From the vale 
On they come ! — and will ye quail ? — 
Leaden rain and iron hail 

Let their welcome be ! 

In the God of battles trust ! 

Die we may, — and die we must ; — 

But, O, where can dust to dust 

Be consigned so well. 
As where Heaven its dews shall shed 
On the martyred patriot's bed. 
And the rocks shall raise their head, 

Of his deeds to tell !' Jqhn Pierpont. 



Your homes. — Warren was of Boston. 

Will ye quail? — Recall, " Don't fire till you see the white 
of their eyes." 

Stanza 3 . Die we may. — Warren, himself, fell, and 448 
other Americans. Before the battle he said to a friend, 
" I know that I may fall, but where's the man who does 
not think it glorious and delightful to die for his country ? " 



312 



TEACHING TO READ 



14. THE PASSING OF THE RUBICON 

A gentleman, Mr. President, speaking of Caesar's 
benevolent disposition, and of the reluctance with 
which he entered into the civil war, observes, " How 
long did he pause upon the brink of the Rubicon ? '' 

^ How came he to the brink of that river ? ^ How 
dared he cross it ? ^ Shall private men respect the 
boundaries of private property, and shall a man pay 
no respect to the boundaries of his country's rights ? 
^ How dared he cross that river ? ^ Oh, but he paused 
upon the brink ! ^ He should have perished upon the 
brink ere he had crossed it ! 

^ Why did he pause ? ^ Why does a man's heart 
palpitate when he is on the point of committing an un- 
lawful deed ? ^ Why does the very murderer, his 
victim sleeping before him, and his glaring eye taking 
the measure of the blow, strike wide of the mortal part ? 
^Because of conscience ! ^'Twas that made Caesar 
pause upon the brink of the Rubicon. 

^ Compassion ! ^ What compassion ! ^ The com- 
passion of an assassin that feels a momentary shudder 
as his weapon begins to cut. ^ Caesar paused upon the 
brink of the Rubicon .? ^ What was the Rubicon ^ 
^ The boundary of Caesar's province. "^ From what 
did it separate his province .? ^ From his country. 
^ Was that country a desert .? ^^ No ! it was cultivated 
and fertile ; rich and populous ! ^^ Its sons were men 
of genius, spirit, and generosity ! ^^ Its daughters were 
lovely, susceptible, and chaste ! ^^ Friendship was 
its inhabitant ! ^^ Love was its inhabitant ! ^^ Do- 
mestic affection was its inhabitant ! ^^ Liberty \yas its 
inhabitant ! ^^ All bounded by the stream of the 
Rubicon ! 

^ What was Caesar, that stood upon the brink of that 
river ? ^ A traitor, bringing war and pestilence into 
the heart of that country ! ^ No wonder that he paused, 
— no wonder if, his imagination wrought upon by his 



INTERROGATION AND EXCLAMATION 313 

conscience, he had beheld blood instead of water ; and 
heard groans instead of murmurs ! ^ No wonder if 
some gorgon horror had turned him into stone upon the 
spot ! ^ But, no ! — he cried, " The die is cast ! " 
^ He plunged ! — he crossed ! — and Rome was free 

Sheridan Knowles. 



14. Another study in argumentative composition, in 
which the speaker is filled with the strongest emotions 
and constantly appeals directly to his hearers with 
questions. 

The crossing of the Rubicon marked the commencement 
of the struggle for supremacy in Rome between Pompey the 
Great and Julius Ca?sar. 

Weigh the significant words carefully and determine 
which are the leading ones. 

^i. Upon how many subjects was the " gentleman " 
speaking ^ Notice that the first subject must include 
the ideas expressed by both the modified word and its 
modifier. Is there a leading word in the second sub- 
ject .? What are the leading words in the observation .? 

^2. Paraphrase the first question. 

How dared he cross it (sentence 2) ? — The reasoning 
follows in sentence 3. Do not miss the balancing of 
the parts : 

private men - - respect the boundaries - - of private 

property 
a man - - pay no respect to the boundaries - - of his 

country's rights ? 

Sentence 4. An impassioned repetitionof sentence 2. 
The feeling grows with the consideration of sentence 3. 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ 21 



314 TEACHING TO READ 

Sentence 5. What is he quoting ? Does he value 
the statement ? 

What word in sentence 6 balances paused in 5 ? Why 
should he have perished upon the brink? (See 1[1[4, 5.) 

What is the effect of the aUiteration in the balanced 
words ? 

^3. What relation do sentences 2 and 3 bear to i ? 

Murderer (sentence 3). — The strongest illustration 
he could use; compare with unlawful deed (2). Sleep- 
ing. — A still mark. Taking the measure of the blow. — 
Deliberate aim. Strike wide of the. mortal part. — 
Paraphrase. 

That (sentence 5). — What.? Which preceding word 
does CcEsar balance .? 

1(4. Sentence i. Who probably had called it com- 
passion? Compare Iji. 

Sentence 2. Paraphrase the thought ; why is it 
not interrogative .? 

How does the motive change as we pass from the 
interrogative sentences of I4 to the exclamatory .? 

Sentence 3. Momentary shudder. — -Note the value 
of both words. For how long does he shudder .? Ans. 
A moment : while his weapon begins to cut. 

Sentence 4. Notice the interrogative form. 

Sentences 5-17. A series of progressive questions 
and answers. 

The boundary of Ccssars provirice (6). — In the division of 
the Roman possessions among the members of the First 
Triumvirate (Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus), Caesar was as- 
signed the proconsulship of Gaul, Crassus of Syria, and 
Pompey of Spain. 



INTERROGATION AND EXCLAMATION 315 

Province {Roman Historical), a conquered country beyond 
the limits of Italy. 

Compare sentences 10, 11, and 12 as to form. 

What reason do you see for the grouping of the ideas 
in sentence 10 .^ 

Compare sentences 13, 14, 15, 16. What is gained 
by the repetition ? 
' All (17). — What things ? 

^[5. Sentence i. What was Ccasar. — Compare sen- 
tence 5, II4. 

Sentence 2. Compare ivar and pestilence with the 
description of that country in ^4. In the contrast lies 
the power to rouse emotion and to breed appreciation 
of the ideas that follow in sentences 3 and 4. 

Sentence 3. Try to feel the contrast between a river 
of hlood, and water; and if the murmuring of water 
should become groans. 

Sentence 4. Gorgon, a fabled monster, of terrific aspect, 
the sight of which turned the beholder to stone. {Webster.) 

Sentence 5. Wherein Hes the contrast in the ideas 
following hut? 

The die is cast, the step is taken, and it is too late to draw 
back. 

Reread, applying your knowledge of Interrogation 
and Exclamation : 

Chap. 1. Nos. 22, 31, 32. 

Chap. IV. No. 19. 

Chap. V. No. 12. 

Chap. VIII. Nos. 21, 22. 

Chap. IX. Nos. 18, 20. . 



3l6 TEACHING TO READ 

Suggestive Questions for Written Review 

ON PART I. 

1. State five uses that may be made of interrogation, 
and illustrate each. 

2. When successive questions begin with small 
letters, what does that punctuation tell us ? Illustrate. 

3. (No. 6.) How does the motive in the second ques- 
tion differ from that in the first ^ 

4. May an interrogation ever be expressed with a 
falling inflection ? When ? Give two illustrations. 

5. Of what use are the. questions in No. 22 .? 

6. What is a figurative interrogation ? What ad- 
vantage have direct questions over corresponding direct 
statements, in No. 23 .f' 

7. (No. 24.) Give the meaning of revile, pining, 
prowess, colleague, acquiescent, admonition, recreant. 

ON PART II. 

8. What is the emotional motive in Nos. i, 2, 4, 5, 
6, and 9 .? 

9. What do the double exclamation points in No. 15 
tell us ? 

10. (No. 23.) Paraphrase ^i, sentence 3 ; 1[2, 
sentence 2. 



CHAPTER XII 
STUDIES IN QUICK CHANGES 

An oral reader is constantly confronted with the 
necessity of being able to interpret changes in thought, 
in sentiment, and in emotion. The changes may be 
gradual, or abrupt. It is with the more abrupt varieties 
that this chapter is to deal. 

One of the simplest and most common forms of quick 
change is that presented by introduced or explained 
quotations ; that is, the quotation with context. No. i 
illustrates this in its simplest form. No. 2 is a step 
more difficult, in that the quotation is broken into parts 
by the context, necessitating a second change, from the 
story-teller back to his character. . No, 3 is one step 
more difficult still, in that it includes the story-teller 
and two characters. EHminate the story-teller, and 
you have left the dialogue, — as we find it in Hues 16- 
42 of No. 23 or, more plainly, in No. 22. 

Another variety of quick change is that produced 
by an abrupt break in the thought, which may be 
caused by a change in the speaker's own line of think- 
ing (No. 7) ; or by some unexpected happening, such 
as the entrance of the second speaker in No. 5, or the 
slip into the mud in No. 10. Shifting motives con- 
tribute to the changes in No. 9, while to shifting 
motives is added a continuous change of speaker in No. 
19. A striking difference in character provokes the 

317 



3l8 TEACHING TO READ 

change in No. 15, and decreasing distance is responsible 
for it in No. 17. 

Abrupt changes in thought are generally accom- 
panied by more or less of a change in emotion, and 
the change in emotion may vividly color the change 
in thought ; but we also find breaks in unemotional 
thought. (See Nos. 45, 46, 47, pages 187, 188.) 

Enter into the spirit and try to feel the emotions of 
the passages to be read ; sense the complete meanings 
of sentences that are left incomplete ; " be " the 
characters whose words you utter, and present their 
thoughts and feelings to your real or imagined hearers, 
— these are the general instructions that cover the work 
of this chapter. 

Pedagogical Introduction 

Many pupils will read line i of No. i, " Give us a 
song, the soldiers cried," as though but one speaker 
were represented. The teaching point in this chapter 
regarding such selections as Nos. i, 2, and 3 is to train 
the pupils to recognize the parts of such selections, and 
to read them as separate parts presented by different 
parties to different people. Freedom with the text, 
and a little care and questioning on the part of the 
teacher will accomplish this with pleasing results. 
The " stage setting " needs to be plainly laid out. 

" In No. I, you must take the place of how many 
parties ^ " becomes the question. Ans. Of two, — 
the soldiers and the story-teller. 

When you are the story-teller, to whom will you 
speak } Ans. To my hearers, — you (the teacher) 
and the class. 



STUDIES IN QUICK CHANGES 319 

When you are the soldiers, to whom will you speak ? 
Ans. To my (imagined) hearers. 

Where will you locate them ? Suggestion : The 
soldiers' hearers and the story-teller's hearers cannot 
be the same ; therefore they must be imagined in 
different directions. Neither can the soldiers and 
story-teller occupy the same spot. This does not mean 
that the reader must move about. He need only 
locate conditions with his glance. To his hearers, the 
person who looks at them will be the story-teller, and 
anything that person says will be interpreted as the 
story-teller's words. The person who looks and speaks 
in the other direction will be the soldiers, and, corre- 
spondingly, whatever that person says will be attributed 
to the soldiers. Hearers have imagination as well as 
readers, and as they trace the reader's glances they will 
imagine behind each a different speaker, though the 
reader occupies one spot upon the schoolroom floor. 

It is unnecessary to state that some selections admit 
of more impersonation than others ; for instance, more 
is warranted in No. 3 than in Nos. i and 2. 

The principle underlying the interpretation of the 
various forms of dialogue, which necessitates successive 
and clean-cut changes from the thought and manner of 
one character to another, advances from No. i in 
successive steps. Conversational dialogue between 
two persons, unaccompanied by descriptive context, is 
hardly a step more difficult. Instead of the reader be- 
coming the storj^-teller, he becomes, in turn, the second 
character. One difference, however, will exist : If the 
dialogue is between James and John, John will usually 
speak to James, and James to John, — neither of whom 



320 TEACHING TO READ 

should be in exactly the position of the class. Pupils, 
as a rule, are quick in seeing how it should be done. 

Let a and b represent two people facing front : 
Pupils readily see that when a talks to b, he would look 
toward his left, and when b talks to a, he would look 
toward his right, and that when a reader takes the 
part of a or b, he must do as they do ; but to see is not to 
do, for doing takes familiarity with the text, a vivid 
imagination, an alert memory, and considerable practice, 
for pupils will " forget " to do it even when they know 
that it should be done and know how to do it. The 
cause of the forgetting, however, is that the conditions 
are not vividly outlined in the mind. 

Mr. Clark, in "How to Teach Reading in the Public 
Schools," illustrates most lucidly how such changes as 
those in No. 5 may occur : 

" Suppose," he says, " you were very busy studying your 
reading lesson, and you were just about to read aloud a 
sentence like this : 

There's a good time coming, boys, 
A good time coming! 

But when you came to the second 'good,' let us suppose 
somebody knocks at the door and you say, * Come in.' 
What has happened in your reading ? You have broken off 
one thought suddenly and another has come in its place. 
Let us see how such a sentence would look : 

There's a good time coming, boys, • 
A good time — Come in." 

Now the point to be noted is that the new thought 
has no connection with the old one and must be read 
independently of it. Here again the pupil's imagina- 



STUDIES IN QUICK CHANGES 3 21 

tion must be in active play. It fills in the words that 
the speaker meant to utter, thus carrying him safely 
and truthfully clear up to the dash without a hint 
of the coming change in face, voice, or manner, — then, 
with hghtning-hke rapidit}^, it substitutes another pic- 
ture, and, presto, — the change. 

It is not easily done, but it can be done, and done well. 
The continued story must be thought out, the cause of 
the break determined, and the imagination trained to 
travel through the successive stages. 

Imagination must also play the leading part in 
emotional changes, and the teacher must stimulate 
it by descriptive picture-settings, skillfully and tact- 
fully leading the pupils, when necessary, from a rec- 
ollection of similar emotions that they may have 
experienced to the strange ones that they have never 
yet felt. Self-consciousness is the greatest obstacle 
to be overcome in teaching the reading of emotional 
parts. It is not so much that pupils are unsympathetic, 
but that they shrink from giving way to their sympathies. 
The tactful teacher must lure them " out of them- 
selves " and into the emotion to be portrayed. Then 
when eye and " pulse-beat " tell her that the stage 
she needs has been reached, her call for the reading will 
bring the response that she desires. After pupils have 
caught themselves responding truthfully and praise- 
worthily, and have come to recognize that such inter- 
pretation is the correct and expected thing, much of the 
shrinking will disappear, and a spirit of self-help will 
arise that will lessen the amount of leading required. 

When several conditions are involved in one passage, 
do not try to cover them all in the first attempt. 



322 TEACHING TO READ 

SELECTIONS AND SUGGESTIVE STUDIES 

1. " Give us a song ! " the soldiers cried, 

• The outer trenches guarding, 
When the heated guns of the camps alHed 
Grew weary of bombarding. 

The Song of the Camp — Bayard Taylor. 

2. " Down, down," cried Mar, "your lances down! 
Bear back both friend and foe ! " — 

Like reeds before the tempest's frown. 
That serried grove of lances brown 
At once lay leveled low. 

The Lady of the Lake. Canto VI — Sir Walter Scott. 



1. Pupils can easily retain the two parts of the first 
line in mind long enough to show that the two portions 
are not addressed to the same hearers. The spirit 
of the cry will do much to separate it from the context. 

Be sure that heated guns, camps allied (See No. 56, 
pages J J and 78), grew weary, and bombarding mean 
something. 

2. A broken quotation with context. 

How does a tempest act upon reeds? Meaning of 
lances down? Is the comparison of an army of raised 
lances to a grove a good one .^ 

Explain serried grove. Why brown? 

The marching forces of Mar had paused for a moment 
before entering a dangerous glen, and a band of archer-men 
had entered to explore. In this glen the enemy lay hidden, 

and, M 1 11 

" At once there rose so wild a yell 

Within that dark and narrow dell. 



STUDIES IN QUICK CHANGES . 323 

At the door on summer evenings 
Sat the httle Hiawatha ; 

Saw the moon rise from the water 

Rippling, rounding from the water, 

Saw the flecks and shadows on it. 

Whispered, " What is that, Nokomis ? " 

And the good Nokomis answered : 

" Once a warrior, very angry. 

Seized his grandmother, and threw her 

Up into the sky at midnight ; 

Right against the moon he threw her ; 



As all the fiends, from heaven that fell, 
Had peal'd the banner-cry of hell ! 
Forth from the pass in tumult driven, 
Like chaff" before the wind of heaven. 
The archery appear." 

They are the friends who are to be borne back together with 
the foe who are pursuing them. 

3. A dialogue between tWo, with a context that makes 
plain the changes of speaker and also initiates us into 
the varying emotions of each. 

Hiawatha, the legendary hero of the poem, who, according 
to a tradition among the North American Indians, given by 
Mr. Longfellow in his notes, was a personage of miraculous 
birth sent among them to clear their rivers, forests, and fish- 
ing grounds, and to teach them the arts of peace. 

Nokomis, his grandmother. She tells her stories as we tell 
them to very little children. Read her character in good. 

Do not overlook the importance of hne 5. 

Catch the spirit of such words as little, rippling, 



324 • TEACHING TO READ 

'T is her body that you see there." 
Saw the rainbow in the heaven, 

In the eastern sky, the rainbow, 
IS Whispered, " What is that, Nokomis ? " 

And the good Nokomis answered : 

" 'T is the heaven of flowers you see there ; 

All the wild-flowers of the forest, 

All the lilies of the prairie, 
20 When on earth they fade and perish. 

Blossom in that heaven above us." 
When he heard the owls at midnight, 

Hooting, laughing in the forest, 

" What is that .? " he cried in terror, 
25 " What is that," he said, " Nokomis ? " 

And the good Nokomis answered : 

" That is but the owl and owlet, 

Talking in their native language. 

Talking, scolding at each other." 

The Song of Hiawatha — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 



roundingy flecks, shadows, whispered (Hiawatha notices 
the moon for the first time, and the big, golden ball 
is very wonderful !), seized, threw her up into the sky 
(Tell the story as if you believed it !), hooting, laughing. 

Lines 6 and 15 are alike. — Do you think the rainbow 
in daytime would give him. the sa.me feeling that a big 
golden moon would at twilight or in the evening .? 
Can you explain what the diff'erence would be ? 

How does line 24 give you a key to the manner in 
which Nokomis would reply ^ If she feels a desire 
to soothe and reassure him iri her last explanation, 
what do 3^ou think she desired most in her explanation 
in lines 17-21 ? In Hues 8-12 ? 

Keep your moon as high as your sky ! 



STUDIES IN QUICK CHANGES 325 

4. ^ When I was a little boy, I remember, one cold 
winter's morning, I was accosted by a smiling man with 
an axe on his shoulder. - " My pretty boy," said he, 
" has your father a grindstone ? " ^ " Yes, sir," 
said I. '^ " You are a line little fellow," said he; 
" will you let me grind my axe on it ? " ^ Pleased with 
the compliment of "line little fellow," "O yes, sir," 
I answered : " it is down in the shop." ^ " And will 
you, my man," said he, patting me on the head, " get 
me a little hot water ? " ^ How could I refuse .? ^ I 
ran and soon brought a kettleful. ^ " How old are 
you ? and what's your name ? " continued he, without 
waiting for a reply : " I am sure you are one of the 
finest lads that I have ever seen: will you just turn a 
few minutes for me ? " 

Tickled with the flattery, like a little fool, I went 

Turning the Grindstone — Benjamin Franklin. 

4. Here we have the stor3^-teller in the story. But 
the "little boy" and Benjamin Franklin, author, are 
many years apart, and the hearer of the little boy in the 
story must not be confused with the story-teller's hearers. 

The apparently simple stor}^ presents many points 
for the teacher, even outside of direct address and 
sympathetic expression. No two of the sentences are 
constructed alike. The first and last sentences are 
both in the inverted order ; but in the first, the leading 
thought is broken ; in the last it is not. Sentence 5 is 
also in the inverted order, but it contains additional 
problems of expression. Compare the "0 yes^ sir,^ 
of that sentence with sentence 3 : how are they emo- 
tionally different ? • 

The interrogation in sentence 7 is equivalent to what 
statement ? 



326 TEACHING TO READ 

5. " No one is aware of your imprisonment but Sir 
William, and he is — " 

" Here ! " interrupted a deep voice, as the door flew 
open. 

6. " I would do it, but — but — to say the truth — 
I — " 

" To say the truth, you are afraid," broke in the earl. 

7. " If we go — why, then — but we will talk of that 
later; speak on." 

Look into the construction of sentence 9. — What 
do the colons say ? 

How might we know that he continued without waiting 
for a reply y even though the context did not state it \ 

The moral lesson should, of course, not be over- 
looked : the weakness of being influenced by flattery 
and the remembrance that " Praise to the face is open 
disgrace." What was the reward for serving this in- 
sincere flatterer ? 

" Bitterly did I rue the day. It was a new axe and I toiled 
and tugged till I was almost tired to death. The school bell 
rang, and I could not get away ; my hands were blistered 
and the axe was not half ground. At length it was sharpened ; 
and the man turned to me with : ' Now, you little rascal, 
you've played truant : scud to the school, or you'll rue it!'" 

Test the eff'ect of omitting smiling in sentence i, 
fretty (2), the compliment of (5), patting me on the 
head (6), etc. 

Do not forget your audience. 

5. The thought of one speaker broken into by an- 
other. 



. STUDIES IN QUICK CHANGES 327 

8. She fell down stairs and broke her neck — lace ! 

9. Have you heard of the wonderful one-hoss shay, 
That was built in such a logical way 

It ran a hundred years to a day, 

And then, of a sudden, it — ah, but stay, 

rU tell you what happened without delay. 

Scaring the parson into fits, 

Frightening the people out of their wits, — 

Have you ever heard of that, I say ? 

The Wonderful " One-Hoss Shay " — Oliver Wendell Holmes. 

10. George Washington rested his basket on his 
hip and jogged along. Meditations as to what his 
mother might have for supper on the strength of the 
fifty cents brightened his visage and accelerated his 
steps. His fancy revelled in visions of white biscuit 
and crisp bacon floating in its own grease. He was 



Write out or think out the complete sentence. 

6. Breaks of confusion or uncertainty, together with 
an abrupt change in speaker, thought, and emotion. 

7. The speaker's own thought broken by the arising 
of other thoughts. 

Invent conditions and fill out the broken ideas. 

8. Wit frequently makes use of abrupt changes, 
ludicrously in contrast to the ending that naturally 
suggests itself. 

9. Ah, hut stay. — It evidently occurs to the poet 
that it is not well to give the end of the story at the 
beginning. Do you think his method a good one for 
whetting curiosity ? 



328 TEACHING TO READ 

gravely weighing the relative merits of spring chicken 
fried and more elderly chicken stewed, when — 

There was only one muddy place on George Washing- 
ton's route to town ; that was down at the foot of the 
hill, by the railroad track. Why should his feet slip 
from under him, and he go sliding into the mud right 
there ? It was too bad. It did not hurt him, but those 
shirts and shining collars, alas ! Some of them tumbled 
out, and he lifted them up all spattered and soiled. 

Aunt Polly's George Washington — The Youth's Companion. 

II. At the battle of Eutaw, during the Revolutionary 
war. Manning, a noted soldier of Lee's legion, was in 
hot pursuit of the flying British, when he suddenly 
found himself surrounded by the enemy, and not an 
American within forty rods. He did not hesitate, but, 
seizing an officer by the collar, and wresting his sword 
from him by main force, kept his body as a shield while, 
under a heavy fire, he rapidly backed off" from the per- 
ilous neighborhood. The frightened British officer 
when thus summarily captured, began immediately 
to enumerate his titles : " I am Sir Henry Barry, 
deputy adjutant-general, captain in 52d regiment, — " 
" Enough," interrupted his captor; "you are just the 
man I was looking for." 

A Brief History of the United States — Barnes. 

10. Abrupt changes in description. 

What is the motive behind the interrogation and the 
exclamation ? 

George Washington was a little negro boy. The basket 
contained fifty cents' worth of freshly laundered clothes. 

11. Find an example of inverted expression; of ex- 
planatory expression ; of opposed thoughts ; of thoughts 
of equal value ; of series. 



STUDIES IN QUICK CHANGES 329 

12. Thou happy, happy elf! 

(But stop, — first let me kiss away that tear) — 

Thou tiny image of myself ! 
(My love, he's poking peas into his ear !) 
Thou merry, laughing sprite ! 
With spirits feather-light, 
. Untouched by sorrow, and unsoiled by sin — 
(Good heavens ! the child is swallowing a pin !) 
A Parental Ode to My Son — Thomas Hood. 

13. On waking, he [Rip] found himself on the green 
knoll whence he had first seen the old man of the glen. 
He rubbed his eyes, — it was a bright sunny morning. 
The birds were hopping and twittering among the 
bushes, and the eagle was wheeling aloft, and breasting 
the pure mountain breeze. " Surely," thought Rip, 
" I have not slept here all night." He recalled the 
occurrences before he fell asleep. The strange man 
with the keg of liquor — the mountain ravine — the 
wild retreat among the rocks — the woebegone party 
at nine-pins — the flagon — "Oh! that flagon! that 
wicked flagon!" thought Rip, — "What excuse shall I 
make to Dame Van Winkle ! " 

Rip Van Winkle. The Sketch Book — Washington Irving. 

How many speakers are represented in the last three 
lines .? How many hearers .^ 
Complete the broken sentence. 

12. Thomas Hood was a distinguished poet and humorist. 
The entire poem is a humorous blending of the two sides of 
childhood — and parenthood. 

What is the emotional motive for each of the ex- 
clamations .? 

13. Good reading of description requires that one 
shall be awake to every variation or change in the 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ 22 



330 TEACHING TO READ 

thought, and correspondingly responsive in presenting 
it. In no reading is an alert and vivid imagination 
of greater importance. In no reading is a wide-awake 
scanning of the thought more necessar}^, for the changes, 
as a rule, lie hidden in the words themselves, and little 
or no attention is drawn to them by warning marks 
of punctuation, as in the case of quotations, parentheti- 
cal expressions, and similar forms of abrupt change. 

Description — one part 
On waking. Rip found himself on the green knoll 

whence he had first seen the old man of the glen. He 

change change 

rubbed his eyes — it was a bright sunny morning. 

The birds were hopping and twittering among the 

bushes, and the eagle was wheeling aloft, and breasting 

change change 

the pure mountain breeze. " Surely," thought Rip, 

change change 

" I have not slept here all night." He recalled the 

change — Ex- 
occurrences before he fell asleep. The strange man 
planatory — ist picture 2d picture 

with the keg of liquor — the mountain ravine — the 

3d picture 4th picture 

wild retreat among the rocks — the woebegone party 

the cUmax picture change 

at nine-pins — the flagon — " Oh ! that flagon ! that 

change change 

wicked flagon ! " thought Rip, — " What excuse shall 

I make to Dame Van Winkle ! " 

14. Motive changes, and emotional changes, as well 
as changes in the ones addressed. 



STUDIES IN QUICK CHANGES 331 

14. We are two travelers, Roger and I. 

Roger's my dog. — Come here, you scamp ! 
Jump for the gentlemen, — mind your eye ! 

Over the table, — look out for the lamp ! — 
The rogue is growing a little old ; 

Five years we've tramped through wind and 
weather. 
And slept outdoors when nights were cold. 
And eaten and drank — and starved — 
together. 

We've learned what comfort is, I tell you ! 

A bed on the floor, a bit of rosin, 
A fire to thaw our thumbs (poor fellow ! 

The paw he holds up there's been frozen), 
Plenty of catgut for my fiddle 

(This outdoor business is bad for the strings), 
Then a few nice buckwheats hot from the griddle. 

And Roger and I set up for kings ! 

We'll have some music, if you're willing. 

And Roger here (what a plague a cough is, sir !) 
Shall march a Httle. — Start, you villain ! 

Paws up ! Eyes front ! Salute your oflicer ! 
'Bout face ! Attention ! Take your rifle ! 

(Some dogs have arms, you see !) Now hold 
your 
Cap while the gentlemen give a trifle. 

To aid a poor old patriot soldier ! 

The Vagabonds — John Townsend Trowbridge. 



Exclamation points are signboards at the end of the 
route : if you cannot sight them in the distance, you 
must pass over the road a second time to make use of 
their information. 

Trace the series in stanza 2. 



332 



TEACHING TO READ 



15. Young Harry was a lusty drover, 

And who so stout of limb as he ? 
His cheeks were red as ruddy clover ; 

His voice was Uke the voice of three. 
Old Goody Blake was old and poor ; 

111 fed she was, and thinly clad ; 
And any man who passed her door 

Might see how poor a hut she had. 

Goody Blake and Harry Gill — William Wordsworth. 

16. I looked without, and lo ! My sonne 

Came riding downe with might and main: 
He raised a shout as he drew on. 

Till all the welkin rang again, 
" Elizabeth ! . Elizabeth ! " 

(A sweeter woman ne'er drew breath 

Than my Sonne's wife, Elizabeth.) 

" The olde sea wall (he cried) is downe, 
The rising tide comes on apace. 

And boats adrift in yonder towne 
Go sailing uppe the market-place." 

He shook as one that looks on death : 

" God save you, mother ! " strait he saith, 
" Where is my wife, Elizabeth .? " 

The High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire — Jean Ingelow. 



15. A change occurs when contrasting pictures are 
placed side by side. 

Try to enter into the spirit of each picture. 

16. Do not overlook the condition that the distance 
between the two decreases as the " sonne " nears his 
mother ; his tone, therefore, loses some of its calUng 
quality and his speech becomes more direct. 



STUDIES IN QUICK CHANGES 333 

17. Bernardo. Who's there ? 

Francisco. Nay, answer me ; stand, and unfold 

yourself. 
Ber. Long live the king ! 
Fran. Bernardo ? 
Ber. He. 

Fran. You come most carefully upon your hour. 
Ber. 'T is now struck twelve ; get thee to bed, 

Francisco. 
Fran. For this relief much thanks ; 't is bitter 

cold, 
And I am sick at heart. 

Hamlet. Act I. Scene I — William Shakespeare. 

18. The assembly of Virginia was the first to make 
public opposition to this odious law [the Stamp Act]. 
Patrick Henry, a brilliant young lawyer, introduced 
a resolution denying the right of Parliament to tax 
America. He boldly asserted that the king had played 
the tyrant ; and, alluding to the fate of other tyrants, 



17. Another illustration of decreasing distance. 
The occasion is the change of guard before the castle. 
The challenge would be given at some distance. 

Long live the king. — Not the watchword given by the 
other guards, but commonly considered as one. Be that 
as it may, the sentence would " unfold " him as a friend. 

18. Brutus, the Roman who helped to assassinate his 
friend Ccesar when he believed him a tyrant. 

Cromwell, the great general, and afterwards Lord Protec- 
tor of the Commonwealth. He was most influential in bring- 
ing about the death of Charles I, an arbitrary king of Eng- 
land, who was tried, condemned, and beheaded on a charge 
of treason, Jan. 30, 1649. 



334 TEACHING TO READ 

exclaimed, " Caesar had his Brutus, Charles I his 
Cromwell, and George III " — here pausing till the 
cry of " Treason ! Treason ! '' from several parts of 
the house had ended, he deliberately added — " may 
profit by their examples. If this be treason, make the 
most or It. ^ ^^i^j History of the United States — Barnes. 

19. There was tumult in the city 

In the quaint old Quaker town : 
And the streets were rife with people 

Pacing restless up and down ; 
People gathering at corners. 

Where they whispered each to each ; 
And the sweat stood on their temples 

With the earnestness of speech. 

" Will they do it ? " ''^^ Dare they do it .? " 
" Who is speaking ? " " What's the news .? " 



Another writer describes it : 

" Caesar had his Brutus ; Charles the First his Cromwell ; 
and George the Third " — " Treason ! " cried the Speaker; 
" Treason ! Treason ! Treason ! " reechoed from every part 
of the house. It was one of those trying moments which 
are decisive of character; but Henry faltered not for an in- 
stant; and rising to a loftier attitude, and fixing on the 
Speaker an eye flashing with fire, continued, — " may profit 
by these examples : if this be treason, make the most of it.'* 

George III, reigning king of England. 

19. Changes caused by continuous change of both 
speaker and motive. 

What presumably moves each person to speak as he 
does ? 

In the city. — Philadelphia, July 4, 1776. 






STUDIES IN QUICK CHANGES 335 

What of Adams ? " " What of Sherman ? " 
" Oh, God grant they won't refuse ! " 
Make some way there ! " " Let me nearer ! " 
I am stifling !/' " Stifle, then ! 
When a nation's hfe's at hazard. 
We've no time to think of men ! " 

Independence Belly July ^, 17^6 — Anonymous. 

20. ^ The King is come to marshal us, in all his 

armor drest. 
And he has bound a snow-white plume upon his 

gallant crest ; 
He looked upon his people, and a tear was in his 

eye; 
He looked upon the traitors, and his glance was 

stern and high. 

Contrast the two parts of Hne i, stanza 2. 

Will they do itF — Adopt the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. 

Adams; Sherman. — John Adams and Roger Sherman, 
together with Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and 
Robert R. Livingston, formed the committee appointed 
to draw up the Declaration of Independence. 

20. Stanza i. By whom is the story supposed to be 
told? (See us, Hne i.) 

The King. — " Henry the Fourth, on his accession to the 
French crown, was opposed by a large part of his subjects 
under the Duke of Mayenne, with the assistance of Spain 
and Savoy. In March, 1590, he gained a decisive victory 
over that party at Ivry. Before the battle, he addressed his 
troops, ' My children, if you lose sight of your colors, rally 
to my white plume.' ... Nothing could resist his impet- 
uous valor, and the leaguers underwent a total defeat." 



336 TEACHING TO READ 

5 2 Right graciously he smiled on us, as rolled from 

wing to wing, 
Down all our line, in deafening shout, " God save 

our lord, the King." 
^ " And if my standard-bearer fall, — as fall full 

well he may — 
For never saw I promise yet of such a bloody 

fray — 
Press where ye see my white plume shine amidst 

the ranks of war, 
10 And be your oriflamme to-day the helmet of 

Navarre." 

^ Hurrah ! the foes are moving. ^ Hark to the 

mingled din 
Of fife, and steed, and trump, and drum, and 

roaring culverin ! 



What emotional qualities can you imagine pervading 
lines I and 2 .? Suggestive Ans. Patriotism, admira- 
tion, love, loyalty. Line 3 ? Line 4 ^. Line 5 ? 

Read Hne 3 and then Kne 4, trying to make the dif- 
ference very plain. Line 4, and then first half of hne 5. 

Line 6. If we tell the hearer plainly that it was a 
shout and a deafening shout, and then catch the spirit 
of the quotation, need we shout it '^. 

Line 7. Who is speaking.? Read sentence 3 with- 
out inserted portions. 

What change do we have between the last half of line 
6 and Hne 7 ^. 

Line 9. White plume. — See line 2. 

Oriflamme (Historical) . The ancient banner of St. Denis, 
reported to have been a red silk banderole (a little banner, 
flag, or streamer attached to a lance or trumpet). The early 



STUDIES IN QUICK CHANGES 337 

^ The fiery Duke is pricking fast across Saint 

: Andre's plain, 
With all the hireling chivalry of Guelders and 

Almayne. 
15 ^ Now by the lips of those ye love, fair gentlemen 

of France, 
Charge for the golden lilies now, — upon them 

with the lance ! 
^ A thousand spurs are striking deep, a thousand 

spears in rest, 
A thousand knights are pressing close behind the 

snow-white crest ; 
And in they burst, and on they rushed, while, 

like a guiding star, 
20 Amidst the thickest carnage blazed the helmet of 

Navarre. 

The Battle of Ivry — Thomas Babington Macaulay. 

French kings were accustomed, on setting out for battle, to 
receive it from the abbot of St. Denis to b'e carried before 
them as a sacred and royal ensign. 
Hence, a standard or ensign in battle. 

Stanza 2. How does the spirit change with the open- 
ing of the stanza .? 

What is the meaning and use of Hurrah here .? 

What is the emotional motive behind the exclamation 
in sentence i ? In sentence 2 .? 

Might sentence 3 be emotional .? Why do you think 
the poet preferred to indicate it otherwise .^ 

What relation does sentence 5 bear to sentence 4 .? 

Where is the climax in sentence 5 } What effect is 
gained by the repetition .^ Define rest. 

Study the word blazed, line 20 ; why is it allowable ? 

Why are these strong martial stanzas ? 



338 TEACHING TO READ 

21. RIP VAN WINKLE AT THE TAVERN 

From Rip Van Winkle. The Sketch Book. 

There was, as usual, a crowd of folk about the door, 
but none that Rip recollected. The very character 
of the people seemed changed. There was a busy,- 
bustling, disputatious tone about it, instead of the 
accustomed phlegm and drowsy tranquillity. He 
looked in vain for the sage Nicholas Vedder, with his 
broad face, double chin, and fair long pipe, uttering 
clouds of tobacco-smoke instead of idle speeches; or 
Van Bummel, the schoolmaster, doling forth the con- 
tents of an ancient newspaper. In place of these, a 
lean, bilious-looking fellow, with his pockets full of 
handbills, was haranguing vehemently about rights of 
citizens — elections — members of congress — liberty — 
Bunker's Hill — heroes of seventy-six — and other words, 
which were a perfect Babylonish jargon to the be- 
wildered Van Winkle. 

^ The appearance of Rip, with his long, grizzled beard, 
his rusty fowling piece, his uncouth dress, and an army 
of women and children at his heels, soon attracted the 
attention of the tavern politicians. ^ They crowded 
round him, eyeing him from head to foot with great 
curiosity. ^ The orator bustled up to him, and, draw- 
ing him partly aside, inquired " on which side he voted .^ " 
^ Rip stared in vacant stupidity. ^ Another short but 
busy little fellow pulled him by the arm, and, rising on 
tiptoe, inquired in his ear, " Whether he was Federal 
or Democrat '^. '' ^ Rip was equally at a loss to com- 
prehend the question ; when a knowing, self-important 
old gentleman, in a sharp cocked hat, made his way 
through the crowd, putting them to right and left with 
his elbows as he passed, and planting himself before 
Van Winkle, with one arm akimbo, the other resting 
on his cane, his keen eyes and sharp hat penetrating, as 
it were, into his very soul, demanded in an austere 



STUDIES IN QUICK CHANGES 339 

tone, "What brought him to the election with a gun 
on his shoulder, and a mob at his heels, and whether 
he meant to breed a riot in the village ? " 

" Alas ! gentlemen," cried Rip, somewhat dismayed, 
" I am a poor, quiet man, a native of the place, and a 
loyal subject of the King, God bless him ! " 

Here a general shout burst from the bystanders — • 
" A tory ! a tory ! a spy ! a refugee ! hustle him ! away 
with him ! " 

It was with great difficulty that the self-important 
man in the cocked hat restored order; and, having 
assumed a tenfold austerity of' brow, demanded again 
of the unknown culprit what he came there for, and 
whom he was seeking. The poor man humbly assured 
him that he meant no harm, but merely came there 
in search of some of his neighbors, who used to keep 
about the tavern. 

"Well — ^ who are they? — Name them." 
Rip bethought himself a moment, and inquired, 
" Where's Nicholas Vedder .? " 

There was silence for a little while, when an old man 
repHed, in a thin piping voice, " Nicholas Vedder ! 
why, he is dead and gone this eighteen years ! There 
was a wooden tombstone in the churchyard that used 
to tell about him, but that's rotten and gone too." 
" Where's Brom Dutcher .^^ " 

" Oh, he went off to the army in the beginning of the 
war; some say he was killed at the storming of Stony 
Point, — others say he was drowned in the squall at 
the foot of Anthony's Nose. I don't know, — he never 
came back again." 

" Where's Van Bummel, the schoolmaster .? " 
" He went off to the wars, too ; was a great militia 
general, and is now in Congress." 

Rip's heart died away at hearing of these sad changes 
in his home and friends, and finding himself thus alone 
in the world. Every answer puzzled him, too, by 
treating of such enormous lapses of time, and of matters 



340 TEACHING TO READ 

which he could not understand : war — Congress — 
Stony Point; — he had no courage to ask after any 
more friends, but cried out in despair, " Does nobody 
here know Rip Van Winkle ? '' 

" Oh, Rip Van Winkle ! " exclaimed two or three. 
" Oh, to be sure ! that's Rip Van Winkle yonder, 
leaning against the tree." 

Rip looked, and beheld a precise counterpart of him- 
self as he went up the mountain : apparently as lazy, 
and certainly as ragged. The poor fellow was now 
completely confounded. He doubted his own identity, 
and whether he was himself or another man. In the 
midst of his bewilderment, the man in the cocked hat 
demanded who he was, and what was his name ? 

" God knows," exclaimed he, at his wit's end ; " I'm 
not myself — I'm somebody else — that's me yonder 
— no — that's somebody else got into my shoes — 
I was myself last night, but I fell asleep on the moun- 
tain, and they've changed my gun, and everything's 
changed, and I'm changed, and I can't tell what's 
my name, or who I am ! " Washington Irving. 



21 . After a sleep of twenty years, Rip Van Winkle appears 
at the village inn when an election is in progress. But it is 
no longer the village inn that he knew. In the place stands 
a large rickety wooden building, with great gaping windows, 
— " The Union Hotel," — with a strange flag pole instead 
of the tree, and George Washington painted where King 
George used to be. 

His sleep had lasted from about 1770 to 1790, — from a few 
years before the Revolutionary War to after the formation 
of the Constitution. 

Try to appreciate the contrast between the confused, 
bewildered, uncomprehending old man and the new 
conditions about him. 



STUDIES IN QUICK CHANGES 341 

Notice the touch of impersonation indicated by the 
quotation marks in 1[2. 

Compare lf4 with stanza 2, No. 19. How are they 
'alike ? 

Compare the last paragraph with No. 6. 

Stony Point, in New York ; fortified by Americans ; taken 
by British ; retaken by Americans under Wayne. 

Anthony's Nose, a promontory, fifty-seven miles above 
New York. 

Compare : " Epimenides was sent by his father into the 
field to look for a sheep, turned out of the road at midday, 
and lay down in a certain cave and fell asleep, and slept 
there for fifty-seven years ; and after that, when awake, he 
went on looking for the sheep, thinking that he had been 
taking a short nap." 

Epimenides — Diogenes Laertius, (About 200 a.d.) 

For written work, changes can be shown in the follow- 
ing way, and occasionally the writing out of a paragraph 
or more may be required profitably as a part of the les- 
son preparation. Illustration. — ^^3-5, No. 21 : 

" Alas ! gentlemen," 

cried Rip, somewhat dismayed, 

" I am a poor, quiet man, a native of the place, and a 
loyal subject of the King, God bless him ! " 

Here a general shout burst from the bystanders — 

" A tory ! 

a tory ! 

a spy ! 

a refugee ! 

hustle him ! 

away with him ! " 

It was with great difficulty that the self-important man in 
the cocked hat restored order. 



342 TEACHING TO READ 

22. THE MEETING OF GESLER AND TELL 

From William Tell. 

G^j/^r (the tyrant). Thy name ? * 

Tell. My name ? 
It matters not to keep it from thee now : — 
My name is TelL 
5 Ges. What ! — WilHam Tell ? 
Tell. The same. 

Ges. ^ What ! he so famed 'bove all his country- 
men 
For guiding o'er the stormy lake the boat .? 
^ And such a master of his bow, 'tis said 
lo His arrows never miss ? ^ Indeed ! — I'll take 
Exquisite vengeance ! — ^ Mark ! — I'll spare thy 

life — 
Thy boy's too, — both of you are free — on one 
Condition. 

Tell. Name it. 
15 Ges. I would see you make 

A trial of your skill with that same bow 
You shoot so well with. 

Tell. Please you, name the trial 
You would have me make. 
2o Ges. You look upon your boy 
As though instinctively you guessed it. 

Tell. ^ Look upon my boy ! ^ What mean you } 
^ Look upon 
My boy as though I guessed it .? — ^ Guessed the trial 
You would have me make ? — ^ Guessed it 
25 Instinctively ? ^ You do not mean } — no ! — no ! — 
You would not have me make a trial of 
My skill upon my child ! '' Impossible ! 
^ I do not guess your meaning. 
Ges. I would see 
30 Thee hit an apple at the distance of 
A hundred paces. 



STUDIES IN QUICK CHANGES 343 

Tell. Is my boy to hold it ? 
Ges. No. 

Tell. No ! — ril send the arrow through the 
core ! 
35 Ges. It is to rest upon his head. 

Tell. O, Nature ! Thou hear'st him ! 
Ges. Thou dost hear the choice I give — 
Such trial of the skill thou'rt master of, 
Or death to both of you, not otherwise 
40 To be escaped. Sheridan Knowles. 



22. William Tell was a Swiss patriot and legendary hero 
who resisted the Austrian tyrant, Gesler, and restored liberty 
to his oppressed country in 1307. 

Be sure of the motive for each question and exclama- 
tion. — How did Tell (or Gesler) feel when he said 
that .? Why did he say it ? 

Complete the broken thought, Hne 25. 

When you are Tell, from which side do you speak .f* 
Where do you look to see Gesler ? Do you think the 
men would look each other in the eyes ? Where will 
you have the boy ? Do you think Gesler looked at 
the boy, Hne 1 2 ^ Line 20 .? Would Tell look at 
Gesler, or the boy, or from one to the other, lines 22-28 .? 

What do you think of Gesler's answer, line 33 .^ 

How does Tell feel when he repKes, line 34 .? 

How would Gesler say line 35 ? 

Why did Tell say line 36 ? How did he feel when he 
said it ? Try to express the hardness and unchange- 
ableness in the last paragraph. 

Do not call for long portions at first. See what the 
pupils can do with lines i and 2 before you add 3 and 4. 



344 



TEACHING TO READ 



23. MEETING OF FITZ- JAMES AND RODERICK DHU 

From The Lady of the Lake. Canto IV. 

The shades of eve come slowly down, 
The woods are wrapt in deeper brown, 
The owl awakens from her dell. 
The fox is heard upon the fell ; 
5 Enough remains of glimmering light 
To guide the wanderer's steps aright. 
Yet not enough from far to show 
His figure to the watchful foe. 

■ Famished, and chilled, through ways unknown, 
10 Tangled and steep, he journeyed on ; 
Till, as a rock's huge point he turned, 
A watch-fire close before him burned. 

Beside its embers red and clear. 
Basked in his plaid a mountaineer; 

IS And up he sprung with sword in hand, — 
" Thy name and purpose ! Saxon, stand ! " 
" A stranger." " What dost thou require ? " 
" Rest and a guide, and food and fire. 
My life's beset, my path is lost, 

20 The gale has chilled my limbs with frost." 
" Art thou a friend to Roderick .? " ''^^ No." 
" Thou darest not call thyself a foe ? " 
" I dare ! To him and all the band 
He brings to aid his murderous hand." 

25 " Bold words ! — but, though the beast of game 

Might there not be a change in spirit between lines 2 
and 3, and also between lines 3 and. 4 } 

When the entire exercise has been studied, review it 
by calling for the reading of short portions here and 
there where a quick change is required. 



STUDIES IN QUICK CHANGES 345 

The privileges of chase may claim, 
Though space and law the stag we lend, 
Ere hound we slip, or bow we bend. 
Who ever recked, where, how, or when, 

30 The prowling fox was trapped or slain ? 
Thus treacherous scouts, — yet sure they lie. 
Who say thou cam'st a secret spy ! " — 
" They do, by Heaven ! — come Roderick Dhu, 
And of his clan the boldest two, 

35 And let me but till morning rest, 
I write the falsehood on their crest." 
" If by the blaze I mark aright, 
Thou bear'st the belt and spur of Knight." 
" Then by these tokens mayst thou know 

40 Each proud oppressor's mortal foe." 
" Enough, enough ; sit down and share 
A soldier's couch, a soldier's fare." 

He gave him of his Highland cheer. 

The hardened flesh of mountain deer; 
45 Dry fuel on the fire he laid. 

And bade the Saxon share his plaid. 

He tended him like welcome guest. 

Then thus his further speech addressed : — 

" Stranger, I am to Roderick Dhu 
50 A clansman born, a kinsman true : 

Each word against his honor spoke 

Demands of me avenging stroke ; 

Yet more, — upon thy fate, 't is said, 

A mighty augury is laid. 
55 It rests with me to wind my horn, — 

Thou art with numbers overborne ; 

It rests with me, here, brand to brand. 

Worn as thou art, to bid thee stand : 

But, not for clan, nor kindred's cause, 
60 Will I depart from honor's laws ; 

To assail a wearied man were shame, 

And stranger is a holy name ; 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ 23 



346 TEACHING TO READ 

Guidance and rest, and food and fire, 

In vain he never must require. 
65 Then rest thee here till dawn of day ; 

Myself will guide thee on the way. 

O'er stock and stone, through watch and ward, 

Till past Clan-Alpine's outmost guard. 

As far as Coilantogle's ford ; 
70 From thence thy warrant is thy sword." 

" I take thy courtesy, by Heaven, 

As freely as 't is nobly given ! " 

" Well, rest thee ; for the bittern's cry 

Sings us the lake's wild lullaby." 
75 With that he shook the gathered heath. 

And spread his plaid upon the wreath ; 

And the brave foemen, side by side. 

Lay peaceful down like brothers tried. 

And slept until the dawning beam 
80 Purpled the mountain and the stream. 

Sir Walter Scott. 

23. Fitz- James, the assumed name, in the poem, of the 
Scottish king, who has lost his way while hunting. Roder- 
ick, his enemy, into whose presence he has unknowingly 
come. When they reach Coilantogle's ford, the mountaineer 
explains, " Saxon, I am Roderick Dhu." 

No context warns us of the change in speaker from 
line 17 to line 42. 

Line 16. Saxon. — Roderick does not recognize the 
king, but the " hunting suit of Lincoln green " bespeaks the 
Lowlander. An ancient feud existed between the Highland- 
ers (Gaels) and the Lowlanders (Saxons) and they were 
continually at war. 

Line 24. Murderous hand. — Roderick Dhu's raids on the 
Lowlanders suggest the horrible butcheries of Indian attacks. 

Lines 25-30. " We gave laws to hares and deer, because 



STUDIES IN QUICK CHANGES 347 

they are beasts of chase ; but it was never accounted cruelty 
or foul play to knock foxes or wolves on the head as they 
can be found, because they are beasts of prey." — St. John. 

Line 31. Express in full, thus treacherous scouts. To 
whom are they treacherous? 

Line 32. A scout had brought word to Roderick of the 
presence of a Lowland "spy." 

Line 38. A spur was formerly. a badge of knighthood. 

Line 40. Fitz-James had a particular cause against 
Roderick Dhu in that he, Fitz-James, had promised to 
avenge the death of a Lowland maiden killed on the preced- 
ing day by his treacherous guide, one of Roderick's men, and 
also of her bridegroom, killed by Roderick in one of his raids. 

Lines 41-47. A characteristic feature of Highlanders 
was their high notions of hospitality. 

" Such then the reverence to a guest. 
That fellest foe might join the feast. 
And from his deadliest foeman's door 
Unquestioned turn, the banquet o'er." 

Canto I. Stanza XXIX. 

Line 44. The hardened flesh of mountain deer. — An un- 
cooked meat that was reckoned a great delicacy among 
the Scottish Highlanders in early times. It was prepared 
only by compressing raw meat between two pieces of wood 
so as to force out the blood and render it extremely hard. 

Lines 53, 54. Upon thy j ate. — The fate of the first 
foeman {Canto IV. Stanza VI). 

" Which spills the foremost foeman's life. 
That party conquers in the strife." 

A mighty augury. — The " Taghairm " {Canto IF. Stanza 
IF). An old Highland mode of "reading the future." "A 
person was wrapped up in the skin of a newly slain bullock, 



348 TEACHING TO READ 

and deposited beside a waterfall, or at the bottom of a 
precipice, or in some other strange, wild, and unusual situa- 
tion. In this situation he revolved in his mind the question 
proposed, and whatever was impressed upon him by his ex- 
alted imagination passed for the inspiration of the disem- 
bodied spirits who haunt the desolate recesses." — Scott. 

Brian, the hermit monk, had made the test for Roderick 
Dhu regarding the outcome of the impending combat. 

Reread : 

Chap. I. No. 22. 
Chap. VI. Nos. 26, 28, 38. 
^ Chap. VII. Nos. 21, 34, 35, 43. 

Chap. XL (Part I) Nos. 3, 4, 13 ; (Part II) Nos. 17, 

18; (Part III) Nos. i, 10. 

Suggestive Questions for Written Review 

1. In what way is line i, No. 2, a step harder than 
line I, No. i ? 

2. The reader must take the part of how many 
speakers in No. 3 ? Who are they ^ How many 
hearers are indicated ? Who are they ? 

3. (No. 4.) What is the difference between the little 
boy and the story-teller ? To whom does the little boy 
speak } The story-teller ? 

4. Complete the broken sentences in Nos. 5, 9, 10. 

5. (No. 20.) What is the feeling in line i ? In line 
3 .^ 4 ? 5 .? Who is speaking in line 7 ? 

6. (No. 20.) Define to marshal us, gallant crest, fray, 
oriflamme, din, cidverin, pricking fast, hireling, chivalry. 

7. (No. 22.) Who was Tell .? Why does Tell break 
sentence 6, line 25 ? What did he probably start to say .^ 

8. (No. 23.) Express in your own words the mean- 
ing of lines 25-30. 

9. Quote the lines that you like best in No. 23, and 
tell why you prefer them. 



CHAPTER XIII 

STUDIES IN GRADATION OF IDEAS AND 

EMOTIONS 

Our study of series (Chapter V) showed us the reg- 
ularity with which one idea may follow another. 
The parts of the series in those illustrations were, as 
a rule, of equal thought value and equal emotional 
strength, and we dwelt particularly upon the recogni- 
tion and relation of the parts. In this chapter we 
deal with series made up of parts in which there is a 
gradation of thought and emotion. The gradation 
may find expression in the repetition of a single word 
or words (see Nos. i, 2), or in a series of different 
words (3, 4). In length, the parts may vary from 
a single word to entire sentences or paragraphs (3, 21) ; 
the gradation of thought may be either ascending or 
descending, toward the stronger or the weaker (5, 15). 

The difficulty of interpretation lies in the measure of 
the increase or decrease. The cause of imperfect work 
is usually that the reader attempts to give the thought 
before he has really grasped its range. In seeing or 
feeling the bigness of part two, he loses consciousness 
of part four, and finds himself at the limit of growth 
before the last stage is reached. 

Our work in Chapter XIII is, therefore, particularly 
along two fines : that of increasing our mental " reach " ; 
and that of expressing degrees of strength. 

349 



350 TEACHING TO READ 

SELECTIONS AND SUGGESTIVE STUDIES 

1. On! on! you noble English. 

2. " To arms ! to arms ! to ARMS ! " they cry ! 

.3. They shouted, ''France! Spain! Albion ! 
Victory! 

4. It is not of six strokes that I complain, nor of 
sixty, but of millions. 

The Discontented Pendulum — Jane Taylor. 

5. A sail ! ten sail ! a hundred sail ! nay, nigh two 
hundred strong ! 

The Invincible Armada — Sir Lewis Morris. 

6. He sank — he rose — he lived — he moved, 

And for the ship struck out. 

A Leap for Life — George Pope Morris. 

7. I am thinking if Aunt knew so little of sin, 
What a wonder Aunt Tabitha's aunt must have 

been 1 
And her grand-aunt — it scares me ! 

Aunt Tabitha — Oliver Wendell Holmes. 

I, 2. What moves the speaker to repeat the words ^ 

3. Gradation in enthusiasm with the presentation 
of new ideas. 

4. 5. Gradation in thought. 

6. Which of the thoughts show gradation ? 

8. What is the difference in the meanings of the 
words connected by or .? How many of the five divi- 
sions show gradation .? 



GRADATION OF IDEAS AND EMOTIONS 351 

8. Here I stand for impeachment or trial ! I dare 
accusation ! I defy the honorable gentleman ! I 
defy the government ! I defy their whole phalanx ! 

Reply to Mr. Corry — Henry Grattan. 

9. Gentlemen, I am a Whig, a Massachusetts Whig, 
a Faneuil Hall Whig, a Revolutionary Whig, a Con- 
stitutional Whig ; and if you break up the Whig party, 
where am I to go ? d^^iel Webster. (Adapted.) 



Mr. Corry had called Mr. Grattan " an unimpeached 
traitor " (see No. 19, page 90) and charged him with being 
connected with the rebels, — a charge which Grattan said 
was " utterly, totally, and meanly false." Both men were 
members of the Irish parliament, and the speeches (which 
were followed by a duel) were made during the heated de- 
bate on the union of Ireland with England, which was accom- 
plished the following year (1801). 

9. Whig, a shortened form of the Scotch word whiga- 
more. In Scotland those who opposed the court were called 
Whigs, in contempt. In England, those who opposed the 
claims of the Kings, Charles I and II, were called Whigs. 
The Whigs afterwards became the Liberals. In America, 
the supporters of the Revolution of the Colonies against the 
tyranny of England called themselves Whigs, and their politi- 
cal party existed until the organization of the Republican 
party in 1856. 

The dissolution of the Whig party was being considered 
when Daniel Webster spoke these words in Faneuil Hall to 
an immense gathering of people. He was a powerful speaker 
and a giant in appearance, although not more than five feet 
ten inches in height, and James Russell Lowell says, " We 
held our breath thinking where he could go." 



352 TEACHING TO READ 

10. We have complained ; we have petitioned ; we 
have entreated ; we have suppHcated ; we have pros- 
trated ourselves at the foot of the throne, without 
moving royal clemency. Patrick Henry. (Adapted.) 

11. To bind a Roman citizen is an outrage; to 
scourge him is an atrocious crime ; to put him to death 
is almost parricide ; but to put him to death by cruci- 
fixion, — what shall I call it ? 

Oration against Verres — Marcus Tullius Cicero. 



Massachusetts. — Boston was considered the " hotbed " 
of the Revolution, and the state was among the first and 
strongest in its rebellion. 

Faneuil Hall. — In Boston. Called " The Cradle of 
Liberty," because it was the rendezvous of the Revolution- 
ary spirits of the time. 

Revolutionary. — Daniel Webster was born in 1782. His 
father, Capt. Ebenezer Webster, was a Revolutionary hero. 

Constitutional. — The Constitution went into operation 
March 4, 1789. Thus he traces in order the great " milestones" 
of his Whig convictions. 

10. Paraphrase part 5. 

1 1 . Referring to the treatment of Gavius by Caius Verres, 
the Roman governor of Sicily, whom the Sicilians employed 
Cicero to prosecute on criminal charges. 

Trace the parallel steps : 

bind outrage 

scourge atrocious crime 

put to death parricide 

put to death by crucifixion Words Jail 

Parricide, act or crime of murdering a person to whom one 



GRADATION OF IDEAS AND EMOTIONS 353 

12. Where was the man who had an American bosom, 
who would not have thrown open his fields, his barns, 
his cellars, the doors of his house, the portals of his 
breast, to receive with outspread arms that little band 

of starving patriots ? tt, rr z, z? / /^ r. n 

° ^ 1 he nook Beej Case — Patrick Henry. 

13. Whatsoever things are false, whatsoever things 
are dishonest, whatsoever things are unjust, whatsoever 
things are impure, whatsoever things are hateful, whatso- 
ever things are of evil report, — if there be any vice, if 
there be any infamy, all these things we know were 
blended in Barere. .^^^^^_^^ Babington Macaulay, 



Stands in a specially sacred relation, as a father, mother, or 
other near relative. 

12. The arrangement of the series suggests the ex- 
treme friendliness with which the man would have 
received the little band. 

Mr. Hook, a Scotchman, and a man of wealth, who during 
the Revolutionary War was suspected of being unfriendly 
to the American cause, brought suit for trespass against 
Mr. Venable, an army commissioner, who had taken two of 
his steers for the use of the American army during the 
invasion of Cornwallis. 

13. The building up of sentiment by adding charges. 
Express the full value of the words. 

Compare : 

Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, 
whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, what- 
soever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good 
report ; if there be any virtue, and if there be an}^ praise, 
think on these things. Philippians4: 8. 



354 TEACHING TO READ 

14. " There ! " said the Deacon, " naow she'll dew 1" 
Do ! I tell you, I rather guess 

She was a wonder, and nothing less ! 
Colts grew horses, beards turned gray, 
5 Deacon and deaconess dropped away. 
Children and grandchildren, — where were they ? 
But there stood the stout old one-hoss shay 
As fresh as on Lisbon-earthquake day ! 

The Wonderful ^^ One-Hoss Shay'' — Oliver Wendell Holmes. 

15. David was a great warrior, a great statesman, 
a great poet, and a skillful performer on the harp. 

16. Within our beds awhile we heard 

The wind that round the gables roared. 
With now and then a ruder shock. 
Which made our very bedsteads rock. 
5 We heard the loosened clapboards tost, 
The board-nails snapping in the frost ; 
And on us, through the unplastered wall, 
Felt the light sifted snowflakes fall. 
But sleep stole on, as sleep will do 
10 When hearts are light and Kfe is new; 



14. Observe the gradation of the thoughts in lines 
4-6, and take note of the change in the sentence follow- 
ing hut. 

Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, has frequentlj^ been visited 
by earthquakes. A great part of the city and 60,000 inhab- 
itants were destroyed in the one in 1755. 

15. A descending arrangement. 

16. Descending gradation. 
Contrast line 2 and line 15. 



GRADATION OF IDEAS AND EMOTIONS 355 

Faint and more faint the murmurs grew, 
Till in the summer-land of dreams 
They softened to the sound of streams, 
Low stir of leaves, and dip of oars, 
15 And lapsing waves on quiet shores. 

Snozu-Bound — John Greenleaf Whittier. 

17. It is this accursed American war that has led 
us, step by step, into all our present misfortunes and 
national disgraces. What was the cause of our wasting 
forty millions of money, and sixty thousand lives ? 
The American war. What was it that produced the 
French rescript and a French war ^ The American 
war. What was it that produced the Spanish mani- 
festo and a Spanish war ? The American war. What 
was it that armed forty-two thousand men in Ireland 
with the arguments carried on the points of forty 
thousand bayonets .^ The American war. For what 
are we about to incur an additional debt of twelve or 
fourteen millions .? This accursed, cruel, diabolical 
American war ! 

18. Citizens. We make holiday to see Caesar, and 
to rejoice in his triumph. 

Marullus. Wherefore rejoice .^ What conquest 

brings he home .^ 
What tributaries follow him to Rome, 
To grace in captive bonds his chariot wheels } 
5 You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless 

things ! 



17. A steadily increasing growth in strength of 
thought and emotion through a series of questions and 
answers. 

18. Gradation of thought : lines 5 ; 8,9; 18-20. 



356 TEACHING TO READ 

O, you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome, 
Kne>v you not Pompey ? Many a time and oft 
Have you cKmb'd up to walls and battlements, 
To towers and windows, yea, to chimney tops, 

lo Your infants in your arms, and there have sat 
The livelong day, with patient expectation. 
To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome; 
And, when you saw his chariot but appear. 
Have you not made an universal shout, 

15 That Tiber trembled underneath her banks, 
To hear the replication of your sounds 
Made in her concave shores ? 
And do you now put on your best attire ? 
And do you now cull out a holiday ? 

20 And do you now strew flowers in his way 
That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood ? 
Be gone ! 

Run to your houses, fall upon your knees. 
Pray to the gods to intermit the plague 

25 That needs must light on this ingratitude. 

Julius CcBsar. Act I. Scene I — William Shakespeare. 



How is Kne 19 stronger than line 18 ? Line 20 
stronger than line 19 ? 

The play opens with Flavius and Marullus, tribunes and 
enemies of Caesar, demanding of certain citizens of Rome 
why they are making holiday. 

His triumph. — In Spain, over the sons of Pompey. 

To see great Pompey pass. — When Pompey returned from 
the Mithridatic war, he was laden with the spoils of the 
East. " His triumph of two days was the most splendid 
Rome had ever seen ; for he had conquered fifteen nations, 
and more than three hundred princes walked before his 
triumphal car." 



GRADATION OF IDEAS AND EMOTIONS 357 

19. Day ! 

Faster and more fast, 
O'er night's brim, day boils at last : 
Boils, pure gold, o'er the cloud-cup's brim 
Where spurting and suppressed it lay. 
For not a froth-flake touched the rim 
Of yonder gap in the solid gray 
Of the eastern cloud, an hour away ; 
But forth one wavelet, then another, curled. 
Till the whole sunrise, not to be suppressed. 
Rose, reddened, and its seething breast 
Flickered in bounds, grew gold, then overflowed 
the world. Pippa Passes — Robert Browning. 



20. BOUNDING THE UNITED STATES 

Among the legends of our late Civil War, there is a 
story of a dinner party, given by the Americans residing 
in Paris, at which were propounded sundry toasts, 
concerning not so much the past and present as the 
expected glories of the great American nation. In the 
general character of these toasts, geographical con- 
siderations were very prominent, and the principal fact 
which seemed to occupy the minds of the speakers was 
the unprecedented bigness of our country. 

" Here's to the United States ! " said the first 
speaker, — " bounded on the north by British America, 
on the south by the Gulf of Mexico, on the east by the 
Atlantic, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean ! " 

" But," said the second speaker, " this is by far too 

19. Have you seen a sunrise like this .^ 
Study word values as well as gradation. 
Day ! Try to feel the emotion of the girl who has 
waited for the morning of her one holiday in the year. 
Be careful of the phrasing. 



358 TEACHING TO READ 

limited a view of the subject, and, in assigning our 
boundaries, we must look to the great and glorious 
future, which is prescribed for us by the manifest 
destiny of the Anglo-Saxon race. ' Here's to the United 
States ! — bounded on the north by the North Pole, 
on the south by the South Pole, on the east by the 
rising, and on the west by the setting sun ! ' " 

Emphatic applause greeted the aspiring prophecy. 
But here arose the third speaker, a very serious gentle- 
man from the far West. 

" If we are going," said this truly patriotic American, 
" to lessen the historic past and present, and take our 
manifest destiny into account, why restrict ourselves 
within the narrow limits assigned by our fellow- 
countryman who has just sat down .? I give you the 
Unites States ! — bounded on the north by the Aurora 
Borealis, on the south by the precession of the equinoxes, 
on the east by the primeval chaos, and on the west 
by the Day of Judgment ! " jo^^, Yi^yle. 



20. Wherein lies the gradation of thought .? 

What is the relation between the character of the last 
toast and " serious " .^ 

What is the meaning of destiny? Manifest destiny? 
How is the Day of Judgment the " manifest destiny " .f" 

To what manifest destiny of the Anglo-Saxon race does 
the second speaker refer t 

Notice that the last speaker lifts us from ** earthly " 
boundaries. — Above and beyond the North Pole is 
the Aurora Borealis. Does the precession of the equi- 
noxes, compare with the South Pole? For the opposite 
of the Day of Judgment (west), he gives us the earliest 
period, — -primeval chaos, — on the east. 

Keep the speakers and the story-teller separate. 



GRADATION OF IDEAS AND EMOTIONS 359 

21. YOU CANNOT CONQUER AMERICA 

From a Speech in the House of Lords, November 8, lyyj, on a Motion 
for an Address to the Throne. 

My lords, this ruinous and ignominious situation, 
where we cannot act with success, nor suffer with honor, 
calls upon us to remonstrate in the strongest and loudest 
language of truth, to rescue the ear of majesty from the 
delusions which surround it. The desperate state of 
our arms abroad is in part known. No man thinks 
more highly of them than I do. I love and honor the 
English troops. I know their virtues and their valor. 
I know they can achieve anything except impossibilities ; 
and I know that the conquest of English America is an 
impossibility. You cannot, I venture to say it, — 
you cannot conquer America. Your armies in the last 
war effected everything that could be effected ; and 
what was it .^ It cost a numerous army, under the 
command of a most able general, now a noble lord in 
this House, a long and laborious campaign, to expel 
five thousand Frenchmen from French America. 

My lords, you cannot conquer America. What is 
your present situation there ? We do not know the 
worst; but we know that in three campaigns we have 
done nothing and suffered much. Besides the suffer- 
ings, perhaps total loss, of the northern force, the best 
appointed army that ever took the field, commanded 
by Sir William Howe, has retired from the American 
lines. He was obliged to relinquish his attempt, and, 
with great delay and danger, to adopt a new plan of 
operations. We shall soon know, and in any event have 
reason to lament, what may have happened since. 

As to conquest, therefore, my lords, I repeat, it is 
impossible. You may swell every expense and every 
effort still more extravagantly; pile and accumulate 
every assistance you can buy or borrow; traffic and 
barter with every little pitiful German prince that sells 



360 TEACHING TO READ 

and sends his subjects to the shambles of a foreign 
prince ; your efforts are forever vain and impotent, — 
doubly so from this mercenary aid on which you rely; 
for it irritates, to incurable resentment, the minds of 
your enemies, to overrun them with the mercenary 
sons of rapine and plunder, devoting them and their 
possessions to the rapacity of hireling cruelty ! If 
I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while 
a foreign troop was landed in my country, I never 

would lay down my arms never never 

never . William Pitt, Earl of Chatham. 

21. An extract from Lord Chatham's most famous 
speech. 

^i. To expel five thousand Frenchmen. — Pitt was himself 
chief councillor in the English government during most of 
the French and Indian War. See No. 21, page 234. 

Venture, to advance or put forward, as an opinion or 
statement. 

^2. Northern force. — Burgoyne, utterly defeated, had 
surrendered at Saratoga, October 17, 1777. Howe started 
to march on Philadelphia ; but Washington so continuously 
delayed him that he finally went back to New York, and 
started to Philadelphia by sea. The Delaware River was so 
well fortified that he could not go up it, and he was obliged 
to sail around by Chesapeake Bay and then march across. 

^[3. German prince* — The Prince of Hesse, who sold the 
services of 29,000 Hessians to the English king. • 

Incurable resentment. — " He is at this time transporting 
large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works 
of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with cir- 
cumstances of cruelty and perfidy, scarcely paralleled in 
the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy of the head 

The Declaration of Independence. 



GRADATION OF IDEAS AND EMOTIONS 361 

22. THE IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS 

Peroration of the Speech before the High Court of Parliament^ in 

February, lySS. 

My Lords, you have now heard the principles on 
which Mr. Hastings governs the part of Asia subjected 
to the British empire. Here he has declared his opinion, 
that he is a despotic prince ; that he is to use arbitrary 
power; and, of course, all his acts are covered with 
that shield. " I know," says he, " the Constitution of 
Asia only from its practice." Will your Lordships 
submit to hear the corrupt practices of mankind made 
the principles of Government ? 

He have arbitrary power ! My Lords, the East 
India Company have not arbitrary power to give him ; 
the King has no arbitrary power to give him; your 
Lordships have not ; nor the Commons ; nor the whole 
Legislature. We have no arbitrary power to give, 
because arbitrary power is a thing which neither any 
man can hold nor any man can give. No man can 
lawfully govern himself according to his own will, 
much less can one person be governed by the will of 
another. We are all born in subjection, all born 
equally, high and low, governors and governed, in 
subjection to one great, immutable, preexistent law, 
prior to all our devices, and prior to all our contrivances, 
paramount to all our ideas and all our sensations, ante- 
cedent to our very existence, by which we are knit and 
connected in the eternal frame of the universe, out of 
which we cannot stir. 

This great law does not arise from our conventions 
or compacts ; on the contrary, it gives to our conven- 
tions and compacts all the force and sanction they can 
have ; — it does not arise from our vain institutions. 
Every good gift is of God ; all power is of God ; — 
and He, who has given the power, and from whom 
alone it originates, will never suffer the exercise of it to 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ — 24 



362 TEACHING TO READ 

be practiced upon any less solid foundation than the 
power itself. If, then, all dominion of man over man 
is the effect of the divine disposition, it is bound by 
the eternal laws of Him that gave it, with which no 
human authority can dispense; neither he that exer- 
cises it, nor even those who are subject to it : and if 
they were mad enough to make an express compact 
that should release their magistrate from his duty, 
and should declare their lives, liberties, and properties 
dependent upon, not rules and laws, but his mere 
capricious will, that covenant would be void. 

This arbitrary power is not to be had by conquest. 
Nor can any sovereign have it by succession ; for no 
man can succeed to fraud, rapine, and violence. Those 
who give and those who receive arbitrary power are 
alike criminal ; and there is no man but is bound to 
resist it to the best of his power, wherever it shall show 
its face to the world. 

Law and arbitrary power are in eternal enmity. 
Name me a magistrate, and I will name property; 
name me power, and I will name protection. It is 
a contradiction in terms ; it is blasphemy in religion, 
it is wickedness in politics, to say that any man can 
have arbitrary power. In every patent of office the 
duty is included. For what else does a magistrate 
exist ? To suppose for power, is an absurdity in idea. 
Judges are guided and governed by the eternal laws 
of justice, to which we are all subject. We may bite 
our chains, if we will ; but we shall be made to know 
ourselves, and be taught that man is born to be gov- 
erned by law; and he that will substitute will in the 
place of it, is an enemy to God. 

My Lords, I do not mean to go further than just to 
remind your Lordships of this, — that Mr. Hastings's 
government was one whole system of oppression, of 
robbery of individuals, of spoliation of the public, and 
of supersession of the whole system of the English 
government, in order to vest in the worst of the natives 



GRADATION OF IDEAS AND EMOTIONS 363 

all the power that could possibly exist in any govern- 
ment ; in order to defeat the ends which all govern- 
ments ought, in common, to have in view. In the name 
of the Commons of England, I charge all this villamy 
upon Warren Hastings, in this last moment of my appli- 
cation to you. 

Therefore, it is with confidence that, ordered by the 
Commons of Great Britain, I impeach Warren Hastings 
of high crimes and misdemeanors. 

I impeach him in the name of the Commons of Great 
Britain in ParHament assembled, whose parliamentary 
trust he has abused. 

I impeach him in the name of the Commons of Great 
Britain, whose national character he has dishonored. 

I impeach him in the name of the people of India, 
whose laws, rights, and liberties he has subverted. 

I impeach him in the name of the people of India, 
whose property he has destroyed, whose country he has 
laid waste and desolate. 

I impeach him in the name of human nature itselt, 
which he has cruelly outraged, injured, and oppressed, 
in both sexes. And I impeach him in the name and 
by the virtue of those eternal laws of justice, which 
ought equally to pervade every age, condition, rank, 
and situation, in the world. 

Edmund Burke. (Adapted by Robert McLean Cumnock.) 



22. In 1788 the House of Commons voted that Warren 
Hastings, late Governor-General of India, should be im- 
peached before the House of Lords for high crimes and 
misdemeanors. Hastings' management of India had been 
very advantageous for England, but the measures that he 
had adopted to obtain certain large sums of money expected 
of him were most oppressive and unjust to the natives and 
their rulers. Edmund Burke, a noted Irish statesman and 
orator, was placed at the head of the commission charged 



364 " TEACHING TO READ 

with conducting the impeachment. The trial, which Is one 
of the most memorable in history both for its length and the 
brilliancy of its oratory, was protracted for more than 
six years and resulted in the acquittal of Hastings. 

Study carefully the concluding "charge." Try to 
express the steady growth in intensity through the last 
six paragraphs. Meaning of impeach? 

Practice, first, expressing the gradation in two para- 
graphs. Then, in three. Then, in four. Then, in five. 
Then, in six. 

Suggestive Questions for Written Review 

1. What is meant by gradation of thought and emo- 
tion .^ 

2. How do the exercises in Chapter XIII differ from 
those in Chapter V ? 

3. Wherein lies the difficulty in reading long series 
of graded thoughts or emotions .^ 

4. Explain the references upon which rests the gra- 
dation in No. 9. 

5. Wherein lies the gradation in thought in No. 12 .? 

6. How does the gradation in No. 15 differ from that 
in No. 10 ? 

7. Quote from No. 18 three examples of gradation. 

8. Wherein lies the gradation of thought in No. 20 ^. 

9. (No. 21.) Paraphrase the following expressions: 
{a) Ruinous and ignominious situation. 

{h) Rescue the ear of majesty from the delusion's 
which surround it. 

{c) Sells and sends his subjects to the shambles of a 
foreign prince. 

10. (No. 22, ^2.) Why can " neither any man hold 
nor any man give arbitrary power .^ " 

(If 5-) Why are " law and arbitrary power in eternal 
enmity .^ '' • 



CHAPTER XIV 
STUDIES IN REPEATED WORDS AND REFRAINS 

Why did the speaker or writer repeat the word, the 
phrase, the clause, the sentence ? What effect is pro- 
duced by the repetition ? These are the leading ques- 
tions in the study of this chapter. 

Sometimes words are repeated to strengthen the 
idea that they express ; sometimes to strengthen other 
words ; sometimes to retard the movement, thus giv- 
ing more time to think ; sometimes, in long and in- 
volved periods, to keep the meaning clear ; sometimes 
for oratorical effect ; and sometimes for no better rea- 
son than to fill out the required number of feet in a 
line of poetry. Whatever may be the motive or the 
effect, it is certain that expression is bound to be 
stronger in proportion as the motive is understood and 
the effect appreciated. 

The striking effect of repetition in some of the world's 
great orations finds illustration in Daniel Webster's 
Independence now and independence forever, Patrick 
Henry's Give me liberty or give me death, and the conclu- 
sion of Edmund Burke's arraignment of Warren Hastings 
with its "7 impeach him . . . I impeach him. . . ." 

The importance of the refrain is seen in our lyrics, and 
such well-loved poems as "Excelsior" and "Lenore," or 
such masterpieces as "The Raven" and "Recessional." 

365 



366 TEACHING TO READ 

SELECTIONS AND SUGGESTIVE STUDIES 

1. William was left alone, absolutely alone. 

2. Webster was a great lawyer, a great statesman, 
a great debater, and a great writer. 

3. I was born an American; I live an American; 
I shall die an American. 

Speech, July 77, 1830 — Daniel Webster. 

4. The inspiring and unconquerable sentiment of 
this campaign is, " Country first, country last, and 
country with stainless honor all the time." 

Speech, October 10, 1896 — William McKinley. 

5. Man-like is it to fall into sin. 
Fiend-like is it to dwell therein, 
Christ-like is it for sin to grieve, 
God-Hke is it all sin to leave. 

Sin — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. (Translation.) 

6. No book is worth anything which is not worth 
much ; nor is it serviceable until it has been read, and 
reread, and loved, and loved again, and marked, so 



1-4. In which cases is the repetition for emphasis of 
the ideas expressed in the repeated words .? Which for 
emphasis of the succeeding new ideas .^ Which for both "^ 

Omit the repeated words in No. 2 and notice how 
their presence retards the movement and necessitates 
increased deHberation of thought. 

5. Even a part of a compound word may be repeated 
with striking effect. 



STUDIES IN REPEATED WORDS 367 

that you can refer to the passages you want in it, as 
a soldier can seize the weapons he needs in an armory. 

John Ruskin. 

7. At length the day dawned — that dreadful day. 

8. Some men are full of affection — affection for 
themselves. 

9. Orlando approached the man and found that it 
was his brother, his elder brother. 

10. You speak like a boy, — like a boy who thinks 
the old, gnarled oak can be twisted as easily as the 
young sapling. 

11. "What would'st thou have? I am ready to 
obey thee — I and other slaves of the ring." 

Aladdin; or the Wonderful Lamp. Arabian Nights' Entertainment. 

12. How wonderful is Death — 
Death, and his brother Sleep ! 

Queen Mab — Percy Bysshe Shelley. 



6. Get the full meaning of worth anything; worth 
much; serviceable; read; reread; loved; loved again; 
marked. 

7. Repetition with an emotional motive. 

8. Repetition for sarcastic effect. 

Express the same thought without the repeated word. 

9. 10. Repetition to particularize. 

II, 12. Repetition to introduce an additional closely 
related thought. 



368 TEACHING TO READ 

13. " Thank you, sir, thank you," said the old man, 
after a moment's pause. 

14. They tell us to be moderate, — but they — they 
are to revel in profusion. 

15. My Lords, I am amazed; yes, my Lords, I am 
amazed at his Grace's speech. 

Reply to the Duke of Grafton — Lord Thurlow. 

16. The air grew colder and colder; the mist became 
thicker and thicker; the shrieks of the sea fowl louder 
and louder. 

17. Steadily, steadily, steadily — for days, weeks, 
months, years — the rains and snows fall ; and as the 
clouds are drained, they become thinner and thinner 
and the light increases. Ragnarok - Ignatius Donnelly. 

18. By foreign hands thy dying eyes were closed. 
By foreign hands thy decent limbs composed. 
By foreign hands thy humble grave adorned. 
By strangers honored and by strangers mourned ! 

Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady — Alexander Pope. 



13-15. Emotional repetition. 

Cordial appreciation ; indignation ; amazement. 

16. Repetition to intensify effect. 

Imagine the conditions suggested by the repeated 
words and try to feel what they mean. 

17. Repetition suggestive of the idea. Note grada- 
tion in time words. 

18. Repetition heightens compassion for the fate 



STUDIES IN REPEATED WORDS 369 

19. Break, break, break, ^ c- 1 

On thy cold gray stones, O Sea ! 
And I would that my tongue could utter 
The thoughts that arise in me. 

Break, Break, Break — Alfred Tennyson. 

20. We say, and we say, and we say, 

We promise, engage, and declare. 
Till a year from to-morrow is yesterday, 
And yesterday is — where ? 

Armazindy — James Whitcomb Riley. 
Used by permission of Bobbs, Merrill and Company, publishers. 

21. With fingers weary and worn. 

With eyeUds heavy and red, 
A woman sat in unwomanly rags, 



of the unfortunate lady. Her identity is unknown. 
19, 20. Monotonous repetition suggestive of that 
which is described. 

19. Note the effect of the long vowels in lines i, 2. 

20. The idea that declare suggests will give it a 
positive downward inflection the opposite of the query 
in where. The " jingler " will not notice that, nor will 
the singsong reader notice that the phrasing of Hne i 
is different from that of fine 3- ' 

We say, and we say, and we say, 
Till a year from to-morrow is yesterday. 

21. Try to appreciate the ideas expressed m the 
descriptive words in stanza i. Mr. Hood could sym- 
pathize most deeply with such conditions, for his whole 
fife was a struggle with poverty and sickness. 



370 TEACHING TO READ 

Plying her needle and thread, — 
5 Stitch ! stitch ! stitch ! 

In poverty, hunger, and dirt, 

And still with a voice of dolorous pitch 
She sang the " Song of the Shirt ! " 



" Work — work — work 
lo Till the brain begins to swim ! 

Work — work — work 
Till the eyes are heavy and dim ! 

Seam, and gusset, and band, 

Band, and gusset, and seam, 
IS Till over the buttons I fall asleep. 

And sew them on in a dream ! " 

The Song of the Shirt — Thomas Hood. 



Let the readers test inflections. Is the monotony 
and wearisomeness suggested in lines 5, 9, and 11 ex- 
pressed best with the rising inflection on each word, 
or the falling, or the sustained inflection .? If great 
actors and readers spend hours in testing interpreta- 
tions of single passages, we may profitably spend a few 
minutes now and then. 

Do not confuse the ideas expressed by heavy and dim. 

Let no brightness creep into hues 13 to 16. Be tired. 

22. Here the repeated words broaden the thought 
and increase the enthusiasm. Try to appreciate the 
gradation of thought, and think yourself into spirited 
expression. 

Stanza i. Which reading suggests the larger sea, — 
the OPEN sea; the open sea; or the open sea.? With 
which can you express the most enthusiasm .? 



STUDIES IN REPEATED WORDS 371 

22. The sea ! the sea ! the open sea ! 

The blue, the fresh, the ever free ! 
Without a mark, without a bound, 

It runneth the earth's wide regions round ; 
5 It plays with the clouds ; it mocks the skies ; 
Or like a cradled creature lies. 



I love, oh, how I love to ride 

On the fierce, foaming, bursting tide, 

When every mad wave drowns the moon 
And whistles aloft his tempest tune, 

And tells how goeth the world below. 
And why the souVest blasts do blow. 

The Sea — Bryan Waller Procter. (Barry Cornwall.) 



Shall we read ever free ; eyer free; or ever free ? 

It runneth the earth's wide regions round — how } 

Why without a mark? Why without a hound? Are 
these expressions literally true .^ Does such poetic 
exaggeration offend us .^ Why '^. 

What contrasted thoughts do we have in lines 5 and 
6 ? How does it play with the clouds? How does it 
mock the skies? How is it like a cradled creature? — Do 
you like the alliteration ? 

Stanza 2. How many sentences in the stanza ? 
Sometimes line 7 is printed, / love {oh, how I love) to 
ride. — Do you like that better ? 

Notice how the modifying ideas increase the force of 
the thought in lines 8, 9, and 10. 

Note the gradation of ideas in line 2. 

Transpose foaming and bursting. It will not destroy 
the meter, but how will it affect the thought ? 



372 TEACHING TO READ 

23. Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down. 
'T was sad as sad could be ; 
And we did speak only to break 
The silence of the sea ! 

All in a hot and copper sky, 

The bloody sun, at noon. 
Right up above the mast did stand. 

No bigger than the moon. 



Do you like the effect of the fs in line 8, as you read 
them ? 

Every mad wave does how many things ? How does 
it drown the moon? What would a tempest tune be like ? 

Every mad wave tells how many things ? Where ? 
Ans. Aloft. 

Which word in line 11 contrasts with aloft? 
Ans. Below. 

I love to ride — where ? When ? Ans. All of last 
four lines. 

Every one of the following words contributes a note- 
worthy share to the thought of stanza 2 : love, ride, 
fierce, foaming, bursting, tide, when, every, mad, wave, 
drowns, moon, whistles, aloft, tempest, tune, tells, how, 
goeth, world, below, why, sou west, blasts, do blow. 

Try to make every word do its duty, and yet swing 
the thought along rhythmically and enthusiastically. 

23. In " The Song of the Shirt " we had monotony 
and weariness increased by repetition ; in " The Sea " 
it was enthusiasm ; here it is depression. 

Make another test of inflection. Read the first two 
lines with rising inflections, and then with falling ones. 



STUDIES IN REPEATED WORDS 373 

Day after day, day after day, 

We stuck, no breath nor motion ; 
As idle as a painted ship 

Upon a painted ocean. 

Water, water, everywhere, 

And all the boards did shrink ; 
Water, water, everywhere, 

Nor any drop to drink. 

The Ancient Mariner — Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 



and note how the falhng inflections make you feel sadder 
and more depressed. 

Use the following as an exercise, speaking the words 
with the inflections indicated : 

down J down ^ down rs^ 

dropt J dropt > dropt ^^ 

the breeze y the breeze"^ the breeze r\J 
dropt J down j dropt "N down ^ dropt /'^^ down ^^^ 

sad J sad ^ sad /-n^ 

't was sad y 't was sad ^ could be -/ 

't was sad y as sad > could — be > 

Why did they speak to break the silence of the sea? 

Can you imagine such conditions as those described 
in stanza 2 ? 

Do not miss the effect of stuck (stanza 3). 

Shall we read painted ship, painted ship, or painted 
SHIP .? 

Shall we read painted ocean, painted ocean, or 

PAINTED OCEAN.'^ 

Explain lines 2 and 4, stanza 4. 



374 TEACHING TO READ 

24. ^ Imagine the effect of a straight and regular 
double avenue of oaks, nearly a mile long, arching over- 
head, and closing into perspective like the roof and 
columns of a cathedral, every tree and branch encrusted 
with the bright and delicate tissues of frost, white 
and pure as snow, delicate as carved ivory. 

^ The poor birds, how tame they are — how sadly 
tame ! ^ There is the beautiful and rare crested wren, 
perched in the middle of the hedge, nestling as it were 
amongst the cold, bare boughs, seeking — poor, 
pretty thing — for the warmth it will not find. ^ And 
there farther on, just under the bank, by the slender 
rivulet, which trickles between its transparent margins 
of thin ice, as if it were a thing of life — there, with 
a swift, scudding motion, flits, in short low flights, 
the gorgeous kingfisher, his plumage of scarlet and blue 
flashing in the sun, like the glories of some tropical 
bird. ^ He is come for water to this little spring by 
the hillside — ^ water which even his long bill and slender 
head can hardly reach, so nearly do the icy margins 
meet over the tiny stream beneath. 

Our Village — Mary Russell Mitford. 



24. 1f2. Sentence i. Repetition to add a modi- 
fying idea that probably occurred to the author as 
she was expressing the first thought. 

Sentence 3. There. — Repeated to promote clearness 
of thought and ease in following it. 

Sentence 4. Water. — Could the repetition be 
avoided .^ 

This exercise furnishes examples of repetition of 
thought for three diflFerent reasons : to add an idea, 
to promote clearness, and because it would be diflS- 
cult to make the sense plain without it. 



STUDIES IN REPEATED WORDS 375 

Ideas that are likely to be overlooked in Ifi : effect 
(When to such beauty are added unusual conditions 
of beauty) ; a mile long (Among so many ideas, the 
reader may not take time to notice the generous length) ; 
arching (Does it not imply overhead?) ; closing into per-- 
spective (Why ? Meaning ?) ; roof, columns (Which the 
roof? Which the columns? And should have warned 
us not to pair them) ; tree and branch (Gradation). 

What is the main thought in ^i ? Ans. Imagine 
the effect of an avenue of oaks . . . encrusted with frost. 

What kind of an avenue? Ans. A double avenue. 

What kind of a double avenue? . What does and, line 
I, connect ? 

How does the word oaks affect the picture ? 

^2. Sympathize with the poor pretty thing (sentence 
2), and try to appreciate the sadness of the sudden 
tameness (i). 

The rare crested wren. — The true European wren is a small 
singing bird of dark brown color barred and mottled with 
black, and has a short erect tail. The golden-crested wren 
is more or less like it in size and habits. 

Catch the pictures in swift — scudding — flits — 
short low flights — flashing. (But you must give us 
something that will flash in the sun.) 

Why is the modifier of most importance in tropical 
bird (sentence 3) 1 With which portions of the thought 
does the comparison rest ? 

What has slender head to do with reaching the water 
(sentence 4) ? 

Is there a reason for the tininess of the stream 
(last line) t 



376 TEACHING TO READ 

25. GITCHE MANITO AND THE WARRIORS 

From The Song of Hiawatha. 

Gitche Manito, the mighty, 
The Creator of the nations, 

Warning, chiding, spake in this wise : — 
" O my children ! my poor children ! 
5 Listen to the words of wisdom. 
Listen to the words of warning. 
From the lips of the Great Spirit, 
From the Master of Life, who made you ! 
" I have given you lands to hunt in, 

10 I have given you streams to fish in, 
I have given you bear and bison, 
I have given you roe and reindeer, 
I have given you brant and beaver. 
Filled the marshes full of wild-fowl, 

IS Filled the rivers full of fishes ; 
Why then are you not contented ? 
Why then will you hunt each other ? 

" I am weary of your quarrels. 
Weary of your wars and bloodshed, 

20 Weary of your prayers for vengeance, 
Of your wranglings and dissensions ; 
All your strength is in your union, 
All your danger is in discord ; 
Therefore be at peace henceforward, 

25 And as brothers live together. 
" I will send a Prophet to you, 
A Deliverer of the nations, 
Who shall guide you and shall teach you, 
Who shall toil and suffer with you. 

30 If you listen to his counsels, 
You will multiply and prosper; 
If his warnings pass unheeded. 
You will fade away and perish ! " 

Henry Wads worth Longfellow. 



STUDIES IN REPEATED WORDS 377 

25. Studies in repetition would hardly be complete 
without an excerpt from *^The Song of Hiawatha/' 

The quaint trick of repetition pervading it was borrowed 
by Mr. Longfellow from the great national epic of Finland, 
the " Kalevala," which he read in a Swedish translation. 
Compare the following lines of "The Kalevala," from Mr. 
John M. Crawford's translation : 

" Ilmarinen, metal-worker. 
Wept one day, and then a second. 
Wept the third from morn till evening, 
O'er the death of his companion. 
Once the Maiden of the Rainbow; 
Did not swing his heavy hammer, 
Did not touch its copper handle, 
Made no sound within his smithy. 
Made no blow upon his anvil. 
Till three months had circled over." 

The close similarity in both the form and substance of 
Mr. Longfellow's Indian poem to the Finnish epic at once 
brought upon him the charge of plagiarism. His publishers 
urged him repeatedly to reply to the charge. " How does the 
book sell .? " asked Longfellow. " Amazingly," was the 
reply; "the sale is already equal to the combined sale of 
your other books." " Then," said Longfellow, " I think 
we ought to be thankful to these critics. They are giving us 
a large amount of gratuitous advertising. Better let them 
alone." And they were let alone. 

Gitche Manito, the Great Spirit, the Master of Life. 

A Prophet (line 26), Hiawatha. — See note, page 323. 

Did the Indians obey the Great Spirit ? [See poem.] 
Note the value of the new words, but make no 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ 2$ ' 



378 TEACHING TO READ 

26. MY HEART'S IN THE HIGHLANDS 

My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here; 
My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer; 
• A-chasing the wild deer, and following the roe — 
My heart's in the Highlands wherever I go. 

Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North, 
The birthplace of valor, the country of worth : 
Wherever I wander, wherever I rove. 
The hills of the Highlands forever I love. 

Farewell to the mountains high cover'd with snow; 
Farewell to the straths and green valleys below : 
Farewell to the forests and wild-hanging woods ; 
Farewell to the torrents and loud-pouring floods. 

My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here, 
My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer; 
Chasing the wild deer, and following the roe — 
My heart's in the Highlands wherever I go. 

Robert Burns. 



efi^ort to destroy the quaintly musical rhythm. 

Lines 11-13. Is there any method in the grouping.^ 
Line 17. Each other, instead of the things I gave 

you to hunt. 

26. Repetition is a noticeable feature in songs, par- 
ticularly in choruses and refrains. 

In Burns' notes, he says, '' The first half-stanza [stanza i] 
of this song is old ; the rest is mine." There is no record 
concerning the old strain. 

Watch the new words and stud}^ your phrasing. 
Stanza 2. What relation does Une 2 bear to Hne i .^ 



STUDIES IN REPEATED WORDS 379 

Line 3. The thought repeated in a synonymous 
expression. 

Line 4. What do / love? When ? 

Stanza 3. There is new thought in both the modi- 
fied words and modifiers. Below where (fine 2) .? 

Stanzas i and 4 are practically ahke, but do you feel 
more of seriousness (home-sick seriousness) -in the last 
line of stanza 4, after thinking of the home scenes, than 
you did when you read the same at the end of stanza i } 

Study the following suggestions regarding words 
and phrasing : 

Farewell to the mountains high cover'd with snow; 
Farewell to the straths and green valleys below : 
Farewell to the forests and wild-hanging woods ; 
Farewell to the torrents and loud-pouring floods. 

My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here, 
My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer; 
Chasing the wild deer, and following the roe — 
My heart's in the Highlands wherever I go. 

Compare the " flow '* of these lines with the rhythm 
of Nos. 19-23. Read a stanza of one and then a 
stanza of another and Hsten to the movement. Could 
you put the " feehng " of No. '22 into the movement 
of 19 .? Try to read 22 as 19 \s read, etc. 

In the reading class, the teacher does not teach 
rhythm or meter technically, but she should wake the 
pupils to a reahzation of the differences in poetical 
forms, and emphasize the fact that certain forms suit 
certain emotions, and that the use of the particular 
form was not due to chance but to choice. 



380 TEACHING TO READ 

27. THE SONG OF THE RAIN 

Lo ! the long, slender spears, how they quiver and flash 
Where the clouds send their cavalry down ! 

Rank and file by the million the rain-lancers dash 
Over mountain and river and town : 

Thick the battle-drops fall — but they drip not in blood ; 

The trophy of war is the green fresh bud :. 
O, the rain, the plentiful rain ! 

The pastures lie baked, and the furrow is bare, 

The wells they yawn empty and dry ; 
But a rushing of waters is heard in the air. 

And a rainbow leaps out in the sky. 
Hark ! the heavy drops pelting the sycamore leaves, 
How they wash the wide pavement, and sweep from 
the eaves ! 

O, the rain, the plentiful rain ! 

See, the weaver throws wide his own swinging pane, 

The kind drops dance in on the floor; 
And his wife brings her flower-po:ts to drink the sweet 
rain 



27. Another form of repetition used in poetry is 
found in the refrain ; that is, the closing of successive 
stanzas with the same line or lines. Teachers are only 
too famihar with the careless or jingly reading of such 
words or sentences. ♦ 

The manner of reading a refrain must as a rule be 
determined anew in each paragraph to which the re- 
frain is attached ; because the underlying sentiment 
varies, the emotional motive changes. 

Stanza i introduces us to a shower, — a sun shower, 
it seems to be, for " quiver and flash " suggests the 



STUDIES IN REPEATED WORDS 381 

On the step by her half-open door ; 
At the tune on the skyHght, far over his head, 
Smiles their poor crippled lad on his hospital bed. 

O, the rain, the plentiful rain ! 

And away, far from men, where high mountains tower. 

The little green mosses rejoice, 
And the bud-heated heather nods to the shower. 

And the hill-torrents lift up their voice : 
And the pools in the hollows mimic the fight 
Of the rain, as their thousand points dart up in the light : 

O, the rain, the plentiful rain ! 

And deep in the fir-wood below, near the plain, 

A single thrush pipes full and sweet. 
How days of clear shining will come after rain, 

Waving meadows, and thick-growing wheat ; 
So the voice of Hope sings, at the heart of our fears. 
Of the harvest that springs from a great nation's tears : 

O, the rain, the plentiful rain ! 

The Spectator. (London, 171 1.) 

presence of light. But it is a plenteous, welcome 
shower, with a dash and a vim that enliven us ; we 
scent the green freshness of nature and meet the 
refrain with a glad and a happy heart. It is the rain 
that fills our mind, — the gladness for the longed-for 
shower. Think what such words as the following mean : 
longy slender, quiver, flash, million, dash, drip, plentiful, 
and try to make your hearers feel what the}^ mean. 
See how much of the idea expressed by each word 
you can suggest in your manner of speaking it. 

Contrast the ideas expressed by quiver and drip; 
drip and dash; drip and flash; etc. 

Stanza 2 recounts the need of the rain, — baked 



382 TEACHING TO READ 

pastures, hare furrows, empty wells, — nature, and man, 
and beast, are needy ; but a rushing of waters is heard 
in the air, the heavy drops come fast and furious, 
sweeping from the eaves, and washing the pavement, 
— : and the stanza and its refrain are full of the Plen- 
TEOUSNESS of the rain. 

How we love the rain, in stanza 3 ! The weaver 
throws WIDE his swinging pane (Can you see him ?) 
and his heart grows bigger and lighter as he breathes 
the fresh air ; his wife brings the flower-pots (Can you 
see her ?) ; and even the poor crippled boy smiles, for 
those dashing, dancing raindrops are like music in his 
ears, and the freshening air and odors reach the " shut- 
in," and he smiles ! Ah, it is a kind rain ! A good 
rain ! And we love it as we speak the third refrain. 

But not only do men, and the haunts of men, re- 
joice, — Away, far from men, " the little green mosses 
rejoice ! " How the poet catches our hearts with that 
" little " ! And the warm (O, so warm !) heather nods 
to the shower (bends in grateful thanks) ; and the hill- 
torrents sing their praises ; and the little pools, like 
children, play back, — Ah, it is a happy rain for nature ! 
— and we are glad ! 

And deep in the fir-wood helozu (Do you wonder 
why the poet put just one thrush down there ?) a 
single thrush sings of the glad days that come after 
rain ; and into the heart of the poet, writing at a time 
when his country was and had been for years engaged 
in a heavy struggle with France (the War of the 
Spanish Succession), Hope crept, and sang its song 
for a nation to hear ! And our joy finds a touch of 
gravity in the final refrain. 



STUDIES IN REPEATED WORDS 383 

28. THE HEATH 
From A Year among the Trees. 

1 There are no heaths in New England, or on the 
American Continent. - We know them only as they 
are described in books, or as they are displayed in 
greenhouses. ^ We are strangers to those immense 
assemblages that furnish an uninterrupted vegetable 
covering to the earth's surface, from the plains of 
Germany to Lapland on the north, and to the Ural 
Mountains on the east. ^ These plains, called heaths 
or heathlands, are a kind of sandy bogs, which are 
favorable to the growth of the Heath, while other 
plants with these disadvantages of soil cannot compete 
with them. ^ The tenacity with which they maintain 
their ground renders them a great obstacle to agri- 
cultural improvements. ^ They overspread large dis- 
tricts to the almost entire exclusion of other vegetation, 
rendering the lands unfit to be pastured, and useless 
for any purpose except to furnish bees with an ample 
repast but an inferior honey. 

1 It is often lamented by the lovers of nature that the 
Heath, the poetical favorite of the people, the humble 
flower of solitude, the friend of the bird and the bee, 
affording them a bower of foKage and a garden of 
sweets, and furnishing a bulwark to larks and nightin- 
gales against the progress of agriculture, — it is often 
lamented that this plant should be unknown as an 
indigenous inhabitant of the New World. - But if its 
absence be a cause for regret to those who have learned 
to admire it as the poetic symbol of melancholy, and 
as a beautiful ornament of the wilds, the husbandman 
may rejoice in its absence. Wilson Flagg. 



Compare the balanced parts in the first and second 
halves of the final stanza. — What does the voice of 
Hope balance.^ The harvest? A great nations tears? 



384 TEACHING TO READ 

29. INDEPENDENCE FOREVER 

From the Discourse on the Lives and Services of Adams and 
Jefferson, August 2, 1826. 

^ " Sir, I know the uncertainty of human affairs, 
but I see, I see clearly, through this day's business. 
2 You and I, indeed, may rue it. ^ We may not Uve to 
the time when this Declaration shall be made good. 
^ We may die ; die colonists ; die slaves ; die, it may be, 
ignominiously and on the scaffold. ^ Be it so. ^ Be 
it so. ^ If it be the pleasure of heaven that my country 
shall require the poor offering of my life, the victim 
shall be ready, at the appointed hour of sacrifice, come 
when that hour may. ^ But while I do live, let me have 
a country, or at least the hope of a country, and that 
a free country. 

^ " But whatever may be our fate, be assured, be 
assured that this declaration will stand. ^ It may cost 
treasure, and it may cost blood ; but it will stand, and 



28. 1[i. In New England. — Mr. Flagg is writing 
upon trees of New England. 

New Englanders have a choice of what two ways to 
learn of the heath (sentence 2) t Of what two names 
to call the plains (4) ? 

Sentence 3. Be careful in phrasing. Why im- 
mense assemblages ? 

1[2. Sentence I. Repetition to keep the meaning 
clear. 

Study carefully the formation of the portion preced- 
ing the comma and dash. Separate the descriptive 
portion ; trace the three parts of the series and observe 
how the last part is modified. 

Is the plant unknown to the New World? 



STUDIES IN REPEATED WORDS 385 

it will richly compensate for both. ^ Through the 
thick gloom of the present, I see the brightness of the 
future, as the sun in heaven. ^ We shall make this 
a glorious, an immortal day. ^ When we are in our 
graves, our children will honor it. ^ They will celebrate 
it with thanksgiving, with festivity, with bonfires, and 
illuminations. ^ On its annual return they will shed 
tears, copious, gushing tears, not of subjection and 
slavery, not of agony and distress, but of exultation, 
of gratitude, and of joy. ^ Sir, before God, I believe 
the hour is come. ^ My judgment approves this 
measure, and my whole heart is in it. ^° All that I have, 
and all that I am, and all that I hope, in this life, I am 
now ready here to stake upon it ; and I leave off as I 
begun, that live or die, survive or perish, I am for the 
Declaration. ^^ It is my living sentiment, and by the 
blessing of God it shall be my dying sentiment, In- 
dependence now, and Independence Forever." 

Daniel Webster. 
{Conclusion of the Supposed Speech of John Adams on the Declara- 
tion of Independence, July J, 1776.) 

29. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died July 4, 1826, 
— the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of 
Independence. 

^i. Sentence I. I see. — Why repeated .? 

Sentence 2. Why .^ 

Sentence 4. A preceding speaker had held up the 
possibiHty of defeat ; in which case he pictured death 
upon the scaffold for the leaders in the rebellion. Test 
the value of the repetition by its omission. 

In making such tests, the reader should always strive 
equally hard to make the reading effective. 

Why die colonists? 

Sentences 5, 6. Why repeated .? 



386 TEACHING TO READ 

Sentence 8. But while I do live is balanced against 
We may die. 

Between which two thoughts does or offer a choice ? 

Substitute one for the second and third country. 
— In what way do you lose ? Why at least? 

1[2. Sentence i. What emotional motive causes 
the speaker to repeat ? Ans. Earnestness. 

Sentence 2. The previous speaker had shuddered 
before the responsibility of proclaiming independence 
and carrying on the war, "while these cities burn, these 
pleasant fields whiten and bleach with the bones of 
their owners, and these streams run blood." 

Omit the repeated parts. — What do you lose .? 

Sentence 3. Note the grouping within the phrasing: 

thick gloom of the present 

brightness of the future as the sun in heaven 

What are the contrasting ideas .? 

Sentence 4. Read, a glorious day, an immortal day. — 
Which arrangement is the more spirited .^ 

Sentence 6. Test, omitting the repeated with. 

Sentence 7. Test, omitting the first tears. What 
is gained by the repetition of not of? 

In addition to repetition what other means has been 
used to give strength to this sentence .^ 

Sentence 8. Intense seriousness. 

Sentence 10. Test, omitting the repetition of all. 

Sentence ii. Test, substituting "one" instead of 
repeating sentiment. 

Why is now italicized '^ 

Test, omitting the second independence. 

Note the gradation in emotion. 



STUDIES IN REPEATED WORDS 387 

30. WANTED — MEN 

God give us men ! A time like this demands 
Strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and ready 

hands ; 
Men whom the lust of office does not kill ; 
Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy ; 
5 Men who possess opinions and a will ; 

Men who have honor, — men who will not lie ; 
Men who can stand before a demagogue, 

And damn his treacherous flatteries without 
winking ! 
Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog 
10 In public duty and in private thinking : 

For while the rabble, with their thumb-worn creeds. 

Their large professions, and their little deeds, 
Mingle in selfish strife, lo ! Freedom weeps. 

Wrong rules the land, and waiting Justice sleeps ! 

JosiAH Gilbert Holland. 



30. Written in 1876, at a time of great national discour- 
agement and perplexity ; at a time when the President and 
Congress were continually in conflict, and politicians were 
scheming for personal rather than public good. 

Trace the semicolons. A time like this demands 
how many kinds of men ? 

Observe the value of both the modified words and 
the modifiers in line 2. What is meant by true faith? 
Ready hands? Great hearts? 

Explain the meaning of line 3 ; line 4 ; line 5 ; 
lines 7 and 8. 

Without winking. — Looking him straight in the eyes. 

Demagogue, one who plays an insincere role in public life 
for the sake of gaining political influence or office ; especially 



388 TEACHING TO READ 

31. RECESSIONAL 

God of our fathers, known of old — 
Lord of our far-flung battle line — 

Beneath whose awful hand we hold 
Dominion over palm and pine — 

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, 

Lest we forget — lest we forget ! 

The tumult and the shouting dies — 
The Captains and the Kings depart 

Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice, 
An humble and a contrite heart. 

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet. 

Lest we forget — lest we forget ! 

Far-called our navies melt away — 
On dune and headland sinks the fire 



one who panders to popular prejudice or seeks to inflame rea- 
sonless passions in the advancement of his personal interest. 

{Webster.) 

Damn, condemn; pronounce bad or hurtful. 

Explain the meaning of lines 9, 10. 

Explain thumh-worn creeds. 

In which line do we find contrasting ideas ? 

Who mingle in selfish strife? 

While the rabble . . . mingle in selfish strife, how 
many things happen ? These things concern what 
conditions here personified ? 

Rabble, the common mass. 

How many series does the selection contain ? 
Memorize. 

31. Written in 1897, directly after Queen Victoria's 



STUDIES IN REPEATED WORDS 389 

Lo, all our pomp of yesterday 

Is one with Nineveh and Tyre ! 
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet, 
Lest we forget — lest we forget ! 

If, drunk with sight of power, we loose 

Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe — 

Such boasting as the Gentiles use 
Or lesser breeds without the Law — 

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet. 

Lest we forget — lest we forget ! 

For heathen heart that puts her trust 
In reeking tube and iron shard — 

All vaHant dust that builds on dust, 

And guarding calls not Thee to guard — 

For frantic boast and foolish word. 

Thy mercy on Thy People, Lord ! Amen. 

RuDYARD Kipling. 



Jubilee, — the national celebration of her sixtieth year upon 
the throne of England. 

Recessional, a hymn sung at the close of a religious service. 

Stanza i. God, the deity worshiped. 

What do you think the poet means by known of old? 

Lord, Supreme Ruler. 

What is the signification o{ far-flung battle line? 

Awful, inspiring fearful reverence. 

Dominion, the power of governing and controlling. 

Palm and pine. — Figurative expression symbolizing 
England's widely-separated possessions : palm, tropics ; 
pine, northern lands. 

What is the significance of Lest we forget? Forget 
what ? Meaning of lest ? 



390 TEACHING TO READ 

Stanza 2. What tumult? What shouting? What 
Captains? What Kings? 

Lines i and 2 suggest many causes for pride ; Hnes 
3 and 4 are a reminder of the unchanging fitness of 
humihty. 

Thine ancient sacrifice. — Psalms 57; j/; 

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit : 

A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." 

Forget — what ? What new significance have the 
repeated Hnes taken on ? 

Stanza 3, With what are stanzas 2 and 3 a contrast- 
ing picture ? 

Explain far-called; melt away; sinks the fire; pomp 
of yesterday. 

Dune, a low hill of drifted sand near the coast. 
Headland, a point of land projecting from the shore into 
the sea. 

Nineveh and Tyre,- ancient cities, now dust and ashes. 

Judge of the Nations holds a reference to the scriptural 
narrative concerning the history of those two cities. 
An understanding of that gives added meaning to 
spare us yet, and a new significance to Lest we forget. 
Forget what t Why are the words repeated t 

Do you think us and we contrast with the people of 
Nineveh and Tyre \ 

Stanza 4. Explain drunk with sight of power; loose 
wild tongues. 

Gentiles,, a Hebraic term for those lacking their religious 
principles. 

Lesser breeds, those who own no moral standard, no rnoral 
or religious obligation. 



STUDIES IN REPEATED WORDS 39I 

The Law, the accepted moral standard of civilized nations ; 
literally, the Hebrew law as set forth in the Old Testament. 

What relation does the thought of Hnes 3 and 4 bear 
to that of hnes I and 2 ? 

Stud}^ the punctuation carefully. Take note of the 
inverted order of the stanza. Lord God of Hosts, he 
with us — when .? 

Lest we j or get — what t 

Does the significance of the refrain seem plainer and 
stronger in some stanzas than in others t 

Stanza 5. Line 3. What is the first dust referred 
to ? (See Genesis j: IQ.) The second ^ 

Of what use are lines 3 and 4 to the thought of the 
stanza ^ 

Explain heathen heart; reeking tube; iron shard; put- 
ting trust in reeking tube and iron shard; valiant dust; 
building on dust; guarding and calhng not Thee to 
guard; frantic boast; foolish word. 

Thy mercy on Thy people, Lord. — For what things .? 

Why the word Lord instead of God } 

Heathen, originally, one who dwelt on the heath or in the 
woods. Its religious significance grew out of the fact that 
culture and civilization came first to the cities. 

Tube, gun. 

Shard, sword. 

Amen, a Hebrew word meaning So he it. 

Explain the pecuHar fitness of the title. 
Why do you think it is classed as a great poem .? 
Express briefly the underlying sentiment of the poem. 
Wh}^ do you think it has been so widely set to music, 
and why placed in the Hymnals of so many churches .? 



392 TEACHING TO READ 

Reread, applying your understanding of Repeated 
Words ; 

Chap. I. Nos. 5, 6, 13, 23. 

Chap. III. Nos. 5, 6, 26, 34, 43. 

Chap. IV. Nos. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 27 (stanza 3). 

Chap. V. Nos. 22, 23, 24, 26, 28, 34, 36. 

Chap. VI. Nos. 30, 36, 39, 49, 51. 

Chap. X. No. 17. 

Chap. XI. (Part I) Nos. 6, 12, 22. 

(Part II) Nos. 5, 12, 18, 20, 21. 

(Part III) Nos. 2, 8, 10, 12 (l2). 
Chap. XII. Nos. 2, 6, 16. 
Chap. XIII. Nos. I, 2, 8, 9, 13, 17, 21, 22. 

Suggestive Questions for Review 

1. Why does the author use repetition in No. i ? 
No. 2 .? No. 3 .? No. 8 .? No. 9 .? 

2. Quote three illustrations of emotional repetition. 

3. What effect is gained by repetition in Nos. 19 and 
21 .? 

4. What is the effect of the repetition in line i of 
No. 22 .? ' 

5. What three different reasons for repetition find 
illustration in No. 24 .? 

6. (No. 25.) Who was Hiawatha? Gitche Manito? 
Where did Longfellow find the quaint trick of repeti- 
tion t 

7. Where do we look for the key to the manner of 
reading refrains .? 

8. (No. 30.) Explain the meaning of line 3 ; line 4. 
Define demagogue (line 7). 

9. (No. 31.) Give the meaning of Recessional, dune. 
Gentiles, Amen. 

How does the word Lord differ in meaning from God? 

10. (No. 31.) Explain the meaning of line 2, stanza i ; 
lines I and 2, stanza 2; line i, stanza 3. 



CHAPTER XV 
CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 

" Think, when you talk of horses, 
that you see them, 
Printing their proud hoofs 

i' the receiving earth." 

At the very beginning of the work (Chapter I), 
attention was called to the importance of noting the 
value of individual words, and this importance has 
ever been in mind, thaugh added problems of expres- 
sion have been continuously presented. At the very 
outset of this new chapter the same instruction is 
needed, for in the study of selections that appeal to 
the imagination a reader must train himself to catch 
not only the full significance of sentences, but the sig- 
nificance of individual words. Hence the opening 
exercises are such as will call attention to the expres- 
sive and suggestive power that may lie in single words 
and short phrases. Number i presents a series of shift- 
ing pictures embodied in single words ; No. 2, in modi- 
fied words; No. 3, in a variety of short phrases; and 
No. 4, in short clauses. 

As examples of some of the lines along which the 
imagination will be appealed to. No. 5 suggests practice 
in seeing people as they are described ; 7 and 8, places ; 
9 and 10, actions ; 18 and 20, sounds. 

In Nos. II and 12, we have emphasized the element 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ 26 393 



394 TEACHING TO READ 

of time, and in 13 we see how directly figurative lan- 
guage appeals to the imagination. 

Many other qualities and combinations will be found 
in the selections given. Our ability to express the 
thought for others will depend upon our ability to 
" see " it for ourselves. What we see with the imagi- 
nation, like what we see with the e3^es, will depend very 
much on how carefully we look, and how long we look, 
and how much we know about the thing we are looking 
at. Personal appreciation lends to expression for others 
subtle qualities that mere obedience to rules can 
never engender; and as to benefit to ourselves, no 
time that we can spend in any other division of read- 
ing work will so richly repay us, or so continuously 
and broadly influence our student life, as the time we 
spend in training the inner eye. 

Pedagogical Introduction 

It will be noticed that studies in time, pitch, rate, 
force, volume, intensity, etc., as such, are not found 
among the chapter titles of this book. Such qualities 
are outward manifestations of inward states. If a 
pupil gets the thought and holds it long enough to 
allow both the expressed and the suggested ideas to 
take conscious form, the picture to rise before his eyes, 
the emotion to fill his soul, outward manifestations 
will regulate themselves, while rules will only burden 
the mind, invite self-consciousness, and detract atten- 
tion from the thought. 

To classify exercises as fast, medium, slow; high, 
medium, low; loud, medium, soft, etc., is, at the very 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 395 

outset, to do too much of the pupils' thinking forthem. 
It is to reHeve them of too much of the necessity of 
traveKng for themselves the path of sympathetic imagi- 
native experience, through which alone the subtle 
quahties of truthful expression can be coaxed from the 
untrained reader. 

Intelligent and sympathetic appreciation of the 
thought is ever the foundation upon which good read- 
ing must be built. Why do we talk better than we 
read ? Because we know what we are going to say, 
we understand it, we see clearly the argument to be 
followed, the picture to be described. When such 
conditions are lacking, we do not talk well ; we hesi- 
tate ; we stammer ; we repeat ; we grope for words, 
and our sentences trail off into imperfection or incom- 
pleteness. 

Why do we read less well than we talk ^ Because 
reading is more difficult, and we do not have propor- 
tionately more practice. It is more difficult in that a 
double process is always involved : the simultaneous 
gleaning and giving of the thought. A double process 
is also involved in the gleaning of the thought ; namely, 
the grasping of the printed words and the assimilation 
of the ideas for which they separately or combinedly 
stand. 

Pupils assimilate unemotional, unimaginative state- 
ments more readily than emotional, imaginative ones. 
Why .? Because they have had more training along 
those lines. Every branch in the curriculum that is 
studied through a textbook gives practice in the 
assimilation of facts. We are apt to forget this differ- 
ence when we call out the reading class, and to expect 



396 TEACHING TO READ 

the pupils to grasp and express imaginative ideas as 
easily as they grasp and express facts, and with no 
more practice and the same kind of teaching. It is 
not because the imagination is so difficult to cultivate 
that we see such poor results along that line, but 
because so little cultivation is attempted. 

Pupils readily assimilate familiar ideas expressed 
in simple terms. In, 

" The deer sprang from his bed," 

the thought is readily grasped, and the picture easily 
painted, but, 

" The antlered monarch of the waste 
Sprung from his heathery couch in haste," 

is a more complicated statement. Figurative language 
has been used, modifying ideas have been inserted, 
and the average pupil must pause a moment, and re- 
scan the lines, before the whole thought is grasped, 
— before the fleeting' suggestions of the changing pic- 
ture touch the retina of the inner eye. 

As far as time is concerned, the rate of the second 
illustration is the same as the rate of the first, but in 
the second there is more thinking to be accomplished. 
Antlered monarch must be translated as " deer,'' but 
the collateral suggestiveness of both antlered and 
monarch must not be lost. Sprung from his heathery 
couch in haste, may mean ** sprang from his bed ; " but 
couch must be translated, and its poetical significance 
appreciated, while heathery suggests some ideas not 
included in bed. 

What then does the teacher aim to teach with such 
illustrations t She aims to teach pupils to think faster. 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 397 

to see pictures clearly and quickly, to alter them at a 
word, or to change them entirely with equal promptness 
whenever the text so suggests. In short, she teaches 
them to think, and to see, and, resultantly, to interpret. 
The flitting mind pictures will always, of course, be 
more or less incomplete ; but they should always be real 
enough to leave a definite impression, — an impression 
that is capable of expansion and growth. 

How can we know when the pupil has grasped an 
idea that must appeal to him through the imagina- 
tion } We can know it by translating the language of 
the eye, the voice, the countenance, which instinctively 
manifest whatever the mind conceives. But no 
teacher can translate a language that she herself does 
not know, and the warm language of appreciative 
expression cannot be learned from description alone. 
Better than all the cold rules or descriptions that 
can be written is the instinctive recognition of an 
appreciation of the beautiful by one who loves the beau- 
tiful, or of a sympathy with sorrow or pain b}^ one who 
has sympathy with sorrow and pain. Rules and de- 
scriptions will aid the teacher, but they cannot give 
her a responsive heart or a vivid imagination, and 
without these she cannot lead her pupils into the beau- 
tiful realm outside the region of plain cold facts. 

From the moment when a pupil begins to group 
words, he unconsciously employs a varying rate of 
time, passing, as he does, Kghtly over the unimportant 
and dwelhng upon the leading ideas. When we enter 
the realm of the imagination, the rate of utterance is 
still governed by the mind's measure of the thought 
and by the amount of collateral thinking aroused. 



398 TEACHING TO READ 

We read slowly or fast (just as we talk slowly or fast), 
not to show that the occurrence took place in such a 
manner, but in an instinctive responsive sympathy 
with the thought, — a sympathy that will vibrate in 
the mind of the hearer even as it fills out with beauty, 
or strength, the words of the reader. 

The temperament of a pupil often needs to be taken 
into consideration, not as an excuse for poor reading, 
as is so often done, but as one of the simplest methods 
for diagnosing some forms of trouble. A pupil may be 
temperamentally slow or temperamentally nervous. 
Because a pupil reads with nervous quickness is no 
sign that he thinks quickly. A glib repeater of words 
may be a shallow thinker. One may utter words 
quickly and yet have no conception of the thought. 
Such a pupil will read : 

" Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean, roll — 
Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain," 

with slight difference in rate from a lighter passage. 
And many a teacher will attribute it to a " nervous 
temperament " and tell us, " He talks just that way." 
Yes, but he does not talk that kind of sentences 
that way, — if he talks them at all. No mind can 
compass the almost fathomless depth and limitless 
expanse of the ocean, or the thought of ten thousand 
fleets, each made up of many ships, with such light- 
ning-like rapidity as some readings suggest. It is im- 
possible. 

We may tell such a pupil to read more slowly, and 
say, over and over, day after day, " Do not read so 
fast," but that is merely calHng his attention to the 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 399 

outward physical manifestation. He reads as he 
thinks, and he thinks fast, but he does not think 
enough. He knows no other way of thinking (if he 
did he would use it), and the repeated instruction only 
increases self-consciousness and diffidence and embar- 
rassment, and causes him to shrink from making an 
attempt. He rises with a sense of being harnessed, — 
held in at the bit, — and he sits down in his place with 
a feeling of relief when the ordeal is over. 

What can the teacher do .? Make him forget self in 
the limitless bounds of old ocean's expanse. Paint 
the picture until he sees it ; and paint with a big brush. 
Let it be no mill pond. If you are not a descriptive 
artist, you must learn to be. Three things are required : 
a vivid, appreciative imagination, a command of lan- 
guage, and plenty of practice. If you do not " see 
things " yourself, observe and study and .think until 
you can see them. 

Practice describing the real scenes that lie around 
you, the real conditions and happenings that you have 
known, and from those lead yourself into the circum- 
stances and scenes that others describe. 

Paint with a big brush, as has already been said. 
Avoid giving attention to too many details at a time. 
The depth, and darkness, and vast expanse, and end- 
less movement of the ocean cannot be encompassed 
at a glance. They must be dwelt upon individually 
and then felt. Paint only as much as the mind's eye can 
hold, and when you catch the glint of dawning appre- 
ciation, call for the expression of the portion or portions 
of the thought upon which you have been dwelling, 
having a care that the amount is no more than the 



400 TEACHING TO READ 

pupil can give without looking at the book and thus 
breaking the leading inspiration of your words. 

Have a second, a third, and a fourth pupil try the 
same, and re-try it as often as increasing effect or hope 
of improvement warrants the expenditure of the time. 
Do not stint the words of approval that an honest effort 
will merit, nor be discouraged with those who seem to 
shrink from the effort at first. Better your own work 
if they shrink, make it more spontaneous, or attempt a 
new text. The picture that is quickly responded to 
by one pupil may appeal slowly or not at all to another, 
for disposition, environment, and experience play a 
large part. 

Keep yourself in the foreground as a listener. Re- 
mind the rapid reader that you cannot think so fast, 
even if he can. Keep the class in the foreground as 
judges. Let them " follow the picture " and protest 
when they are unreasonably hurried. Responsibility 
for others is often a more powerful incentive than inter- 
est for one's self. In the reading class, the duty of giv- 
ing the thought to some one should ever be kept parallel 
with that of getting it for one's self. 

It may be that your time for a pupil will be over 
when he has read one short part, — for instance, the 
two lines quoted from the " Apostrophe to the Ocean." 
Do not let that concern you if he has read it ever so 
little better than he would have read it before. If he 
has, you have taught him something. You have given 
him a ghmpse through and beyond the few printed 
words into the immensity for which they stand. The 
words he knew before : he could read (.^) the sentences 
when he came to class. You have taught him a new 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 401 

thing : the interpretation of the thought. You have led 
him to grasp one particle from the immensity and, for 
a moment, his soul has trembled on the threshold 
of expression. His hungry mind will go again, and 
pause to gaze, even as he (though " quick and jerky in 
his talk ") would pause and gaze at some attractive 
painting actually hanging upon a wall. 

What has been said about the pupil who reads too 
fast, applies in an opposite way to the one who reads 
too slowly. 

The pupil who is temperamentally slow, — dragging 
and sluggish in his utterance, — is slow in thinking. 
His reading will also be found to lack variety and appre- 
ciation of values. Small things seem large to him be- 
cause he does not get around to the large ones in time 
to compare, — and yet he can tell a five-quart measure 
from a four-quart one, if he has the two together. 

What must the teacher do ? Train him to think 
faster. Hold before him comparisons. Give him 
plenty of rapid pictures to see and reproduce, — but do 
not present your part beyond his best rate of speed, 
or you will only confuse him. Coax him along, as it 
were. The progress will be slow ; the final results may 
not be great, but the method is the only one that will 
actually help. He gives the thought as fast as he gets 
it. He holds it too long in his process of assimilation. 
Only as his mental movement quickens will his utter- 
ance take on added fife. 

Even as the imagination is an active factor in arous- 
ing an appreciation of time, so also will it be found a 
vital factor in the production of correct pitch, force, 
volume, intensity, and kindred qualities. 



402 TEACHING TO READ 



SELECTIONS AND SUGGESTIVE STUDIES 

1. King Canute was weary-hearted; he had reigned 

for years a score, 
BattHng, struggKng, pushing, fighting, kilHng 

much and robbing more; 
And he thought upon his actions, walking by the 

wild seashore. 

King Canute — William Makepeace Thackeray. 

2. The neighing troop, the flashing blade, 

The bugle's stirring blast. 
The charge, the dreadful cannonade, 
The din and shout, are past; 



1. Read the first thought. Did you introduce the 
leading character as though he had not been mentioned 
before and was of importance in the story '^. Did you 
call even slight attention to his office .^ 

Is there a word in the first group, the thought of 
which colors the manner of saying it .^ {Weary-hearted.) 

What picture does battling call up .^ How does 
struggling differ from battling? What do you see in 
pushing? Fighting? Can you feel these differences '^. 

Canute, Danish King of England, from about 995 to 1035. 

2. Note how a modifying idea can alter a picture. 
What picture does the word troop call up .^ How 

does your picture change when *neighing is inserted .^ 
Does the insertion of neighing lessen the thought 

value of troop? 

Apply ,the same queries to blade and flashing; to 

blast and stirring and bugle's; to cannonade and dread- 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 403 

Nor war's wild note, nor glory's peal 

Shall thrill with fierce delight 
Those breasts that never more may feel 

The rapture of the fight. 

The Bivouac of the Dead — Theodore O'Hara. 

" Work — work — work ! 

My labor never flags ; 
And what are its wages ? A bed of straw, 

A crust of bread — and rags, 
That shattered roof — and this naked floor — 

A table — a broken chair — 
And a wall so blank, my shadow I thank 

For sometimes falling there ! " 

The Song of the Shirt — Thomas Hood. 



ful; to note and zvild and war's; to peal and glory's; 
to delight and fierce. 

Which words appeal to the imagination through the 
sight .^ Through the hearing .? Through the feehngs .^ 
Note how bare the thought would be should we read : 
The troop, the blade, 

The blast. 
The charge, the cannonade, etc. 
Be alert for din-and-shout, wild-note, and similar com- 
binations. 

The first nor is equivalent to not. 

3. How many pictures do the wages suggest ? 
What effect is gained by the repetition 1 
Feel the monotony in never. 

Is line 2 more closely connected in thought with 
line I or with line 3 .^ 



404 TEACHING TO READ 

4. A second match was rubbed against the wall. 
It burst into flame, and where the light fell upon the 
wall it became transparent, like a thin veil, and she 
could see through it into the room. On the table 
a snow-white cloth was spread ; upon it stood a shining 
dinner service ; the roast goose smoked gloriously, 
stuffed with apples and dried plums. 

The Little Match Girl — Hans Christian Andersen. 

5. How do you think the man was dressed ? 
He wore an ancient, long buff vest, 
Yellow as saffron, — but his best; 

And, buttoned over his manly breast, 
Was a bright blue coat, with a rolling collar, 
And large gilt buttons, — size of a dollar, — 
With tails that the country folk call " swaller." 

Recall No. 21, page 369. 

Which reading is the most suggestive of unending 
monotony : 

Work J work y work J 
Work "N work "> work "^ 
Work r\j work <^^^ work /"x^ 

4. The vision of a homeless, freezing child. From 
single words, we have passed to clauses. 

Make the feast " good enough to eat." 

5. Do you think the use of the word ancient (line 2) 
permissible ^ Only how many years before had this 
style of dress been the custom ? Compare ancient, 
forty years, and long ago. 

How do you know that he did not wear his coat as 
you do yours .? (To a boy with an open coat.) [See 
line 4.] Such questions as, " How did the buttons 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 405 

He wore a broad-brimmed, bell-crowned hat, 
• White as the locks on which it sat. 
Never had such a sight been seen 
For forty years on the village green, 
Since old John Burns was a country beau, 
'And went to the " quiltings " long ago. 

John Burns of Gettysburg — Francis Bret Harte. 

6. One afternoon when the sun was going down, a 
mother and her httle boy sat at the door of their cottage, 
talking about the Great Stone Face. They had but 
to hft their eyes, and there it was plainly to be seen, 
though miles away, with the sunshine brightening all 
its features. 

And what was the Great Stone Face ? The Great 



differ from yours .? " etc., are often better than " De- 
scribe his coat," or, " Describe the buttons," because 
two pictures must enter the mind and the process of 
comparison take place. 

John Burns, the Gettysburg hero, who, past his threescore 
years and ten, " joined our troops in defense .of his home and 
fireside, and remained on the front Hne of battle until stricken 
down by three serious wounds." 

6. Hawthorne tells us in the story that all the inhab- 
itants of the valley, grown people and children, had a 
kind of familiarity with the Great Stone Face, although 
some possessed the gift of distinguishing it more clearly 
than others. Such will, no doubt, be the case with 
those who read of it. A face with a forehead one hun- 
dred feet high ; with nose, Kps, and chin in proportion ; 
and set well up on the perpendicular side of a moun- 



4o6 TEACHING TO READ 

Stone Face was a work of Nature in her mood of ma- 
jestic playfulness, formed on the perpendicular side 
of a mountain by some immense rocks, which had 
been thrown together in such a position as, when viewed 
at a proper distance, precisely to resemble the features 
of a human countenance. It seemed as if an enormous 
giant, or a Titan, had sculptured his own hkeness on 
the precipice. There was the broad arch of the fore- 
head, a hundred feet in height ; the nose, with its long 
bridge ; the vast lips, which, if they could have spoken, 
would have rolled their thunder accents from one end 
of the valley to the other. 

It was a happy lot for children to grow up to man- 
hood or womanhood with the great stone face before 
their eyes, for all the features were noble, and the 
expression was at once grand and sweet, as if it were 
the glow of a vast, warm heart, that embraced all 
mankind in its affection, and had room for more. 

The Great Stone Face — Nathaniel Hawthorne. 

tain, must be " viewed at a proper distance " even by 
the imagination. 

" True it is," says the story, " that, if the spectator ap- 
proached too near, he lost the outline of the gigantic visage, 
and could discern only a heap of ponderous and gigantic 
rocks, piled in chaotic ruin one upon another. Retrace his 
steps, however, the wondrous features would again be seen ; 
and the further he withdrew from them, the more like a 
human face . . . did they appear; until, as it grew dim 
in the distance with the clouds and glorified vapor of the 
mountains clustering about it, the Great Stone Face seemed 
positively alive." 

Titans, Greek mythological characters of gigantic size and 
enormous strength, who, in their wars, could pile mountains 
upon mountains. 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 407 

7. Old homestead ! In that old gray town, 

Thy vane is seaward blowing, 
Thy slip of garden stretches down 

To where the tide is flowing ; 
Below they lie, their sails all furled, 
The ships that go about the world. 

Dearer that little country house. 

Inland, with pines beside it ; 
Some peach trees, with unfruitful boughs, 

A well, with weeds to hide it ; 
No flowers, or only such as rise 
Self-sown, poor things, which all despise. 

Dear country home ! Can I forget 

The least of thy sweet trifles ? 
The window vines that clamber yet. 

Whose blooms the bee still rifles ? 
The roadside blackberries growing ripe, 
/ And in the woods the Indian pipe. 

The Country Life — Richard Henry Stoddard. 

^2. Why should such Hps have rolled thunder 
accents ? 

II3. " According to the belief of many people, the vafley 
owed much of its fertility to this benign aspect that was con- 
tinually beaming upon it, illuminating the clouds, and infus- 
ing its tenderness into the sunshine." 

7. When the setting of the poem is unknown, a 
suitable one can, if necessary, usually be inferred from 
the text, or invented. 

Stanza i. Whose homestead would you imagine this 
to be from the context '^. 

What diff'erence is there in the suggestiveness of old 
gray and gray old? 



4o8 TEACHING TO READ 

8. In midst of wide green pasture-lands, cut through 
By lines of alders bordering deep-banked streams, 
Where bulrushes and yellow iris grew, * . 

And rest and peace, and all the flowers of dreams, 
The abbey stood — so still, it seemed a part 
Of the marsh-country's almost pulseless heart. 

The Monk's Magnificat — E. Nesbit. 



Of what use in the description is line 2 ? 

What are we talking about in line 3 ? What is said 
about it ? 

Lines 5 and 6 are a good expression study in the in- 
verted order. The plural significance of they is impor- 
tant, lest the hearers, not yet having the idea {ships) 
to which it refers, imagine that it refers to something 
already mentioned. The necessary touch upon they 
helps to do away with " jingle." 

Stanza 2. Note the love the poet has for even the 
imperfections and unpraiseworthy characteristics of 
the place. Can you feel any spirit of condemnation 
as you read about the weeds and wild flowers and the 
unfruitful character of the trees .^ 

Dearer, — than the things of the city, of which he 
speaks in foregoing stanzas. 

Richard Henry Stoddard was born in Hingham, Mass. 
His father was a sea captain. 

8. Sometimes it is a good exercise for the teacher 
to read the lines and have the pupils try to " see ". 
the picture, modifying or changing it as the various 
stages of the text suggest. To do that, they must 
learn to look beyond the schoolroom walls. Many 
will prefer to close their eyes. The teacher, too, must 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 409 

" see," else her voice and manner will not be true to 
the sentiment, and, if it is not true, it will hinder the 
development of the picture in the pupils' minds. To 
that end, she must know her lines. The more nearly 
memorized they are, the better. No. 8 presents good 
material for such an exercise, because the successive 
stages of the pictures are clean-cut and clear. 

When a picture group has a number of modifying 
ideas, it is well to present it first entire, and then re- 
present it, dwelHng upon the modifying characteristic, 

thus : 

In midst of wide green pasture-lands. 

In midst, — of wide — green — pasture — lands 

Then question : What did in midst suggest to you '^. 
Ans. The wide green pasture-lands must be all about 
the abbey. 

(The pupils are not ready to attempt the picture until 
its central figure, the abbey, is clearly defined and 
understood.) 

What did wide suggest to you ? Ans. Almost level, 
open fields in every direction. 

Notice the fresh, well-watered condition suggested 
in green. Would the scene have been as soothing and 
restful if the poet had chosen yellow fields of ripened 
grain } Would not such a scene have been more sug- 
gestive of work .? Which is the more soothing, restful 
color to the eye, — yellow or green '^. 

How might our picture have differed had not pasture 
been inserted .^ 

The teacher may continue the presentation of the 
picture through portions suggested on the next page. 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ IJ 



410 TEACHING TO READ 

9. Drawing his sword, he traced a line with it on the 
sand from east to west. Then turning toward the south, 
" Friends and comrades ! " he said, " on that side are 
toil, hunger, nakedness, the drenching storm, desertion, 
and death ; on this side, ease and pleasure. There 
lies Peru with its riches ; here Panama and its poverty. 
Choose, each man, what best becomes a brave Castilian. 
For my part I go south." So saying, he stepped across 
the line. 

Pizarro on the Isle of Gallo — William Hickling Prescott. 

Cut through — hy lines of alders — bordering deep- 
hanked streams, — where bulrushes — and yellow iris — 
grew, — and rest — - and peace — and all the flowers of 
dreams, — the abbey stood, — so still — it seemed a part 
of the marsh-country^ s almost pulseless heart. 

Give plenty of time for pictures to grow, and repeat 
in parts as before suggested, whenever a portion seems 
too complicated. Slighting a part of a compound word 
may alter a picture ; — for example, deep-banked; marsh- 
country. 

Alders, bulrushes, and yellow iris. — Pupils cannot 
put plants into a picture if they know nothing about 
them, and there is no use in repeating the word if it 
means nothing to them. The teacher can always suc- 
ceed by pictures or blackboard illustrations or descrip- 
tion in giving some idea of an object. 

What are flowers of dreams? 

9. See what he did ; do, in imagination, what he 
did ; see what he saw; try to feel what he felt. 

How long a Hne would he trace .^ How long would 
it take him to do it .^ 

Pizarro (pi zar'ro), the conqueror of Peru. 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 41 1 

ID. The antlered monarch of the waste 

Sprung from his heathery couch in haste. 
But ere his fleet career he took, 
The dew-drops from his flanks he shook; 
Like crested leader proud and high 
Tossed his beamed frontlet to the sky. 

The Lady of the Lake. Canto I — Sir Walter Scott. 

II. The sun rose high, and sank, and the battle 
still raged. Through all the wild October day, the 



After Balboa had crossed the isthmus of Darien, in 15 13, 
he turned to the southward and penetrated many miles into 
the country. Subsequently, Francisco Pizarro, a brave but 
cruel leader, who had accompanied Balboa in the previous 
expedition, sailed from Panama with a company of less than 
two hundred men, and landed on the western coast of Peru 
— the wealthiest and most powerful state in America at the 
time of the discovery. By means of the basest treachery 
and the most revolting cruelties, Pizarro succeeded in eff'ect- 
ing the conquest of the country. 

New General History — Anderson. 

TO. See Introduction, page 396. 

Wherein lies the opposition in the thoughts connected 
by hut? 

Try to feel the meaning in proud and see the action 

in tossed. 

Frontlet, the forehead, especially of an animal. 
Beamed, furnished with, or having beam. Beam, the 
main stem of a deer's horn. 

II. See Introduction concerning time. The rising 
of the sun and its sinking are many hours apart. 



412 



TEACHING TO READ 



clash and din resounded in the air. In the red sunset, 
and in the white moonhght, heaps upon heaps of dead 
men lay strewn, a dreadful spectacle, all over the ground. 

Child's History of England — Charles Dickens. 

12. She sudden gave 

The sign, and each impatient brave 
Shot sudden in the sounding wave ; 
The startled waters gurgled round ; 
Their stubborn strokes kept sullen sound. 
Now side by side the rivals plied. 
Yet no man wasted word or breath ; 
All was as still as stream of death. 
Now side by side their strength was tried, 
They near the shore at last ; and now 
The foam flies spouting from a face 
That laughing lifts from out the race. 

The Sioux Chiefs Daughter — Joaquin Miller. 

All a wild October day would be about how many hours .? 
The red sunset and the white moonlight are not so far 
apart, but they are suggestive of very different picture 
effects. 

Try to imagine what heaps upon heaps of dead men 
would mean. 

All over the ground — a ground large enough for 
a battle between thousands of men to take place on it. 

12. An Indian maid promises to give her hand and 
heart to the one of two rivals who could first bring to 
her a bunch of red berries from across a " wild and 
wide " stream. Such a stream cannot be crossed in 
as few minutes as are required for the reading of these 
words. The reader must read into the poem the con- 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 413 

13. Mont Blanc is the monarch of mountains; 

They crowned him long ago 
On a throne of rocks, in a robe of clouds, 
With a diadem of snow. 

Manfred. Act I. Scene I — Lord Byron. 

14. The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, 

The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea. 
The plowman homeward plods his weary way. 
And leaves the world to darkness and to me. 

Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight, 
And all the air a solemn stillness holds. 

Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight, 
And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds ; 

Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower, 
The moping owl does to the moon complain 

Of such as, wandering near her secret bower. 
Molest her ancient solitary reign. 

Elegy in a Country Churchyard — Thomas Gray. 



tinuous effort suggested between the lines and behind 
the words. 

Apply the suggestions given in No. 8. 

13. Figurative language always appeals to the 
imagination. 

Mont Blanc (moN' blaN^j the highest mountain in France. 

14. Suggestive Lesson : 

The work of a good illustrator is remunerative. 
Suppose that to be your profession, and that you have 
accepted an order to illustrate the " Elegy". Let us 



414 TEACHING TO READ 

see how many of the ideas in these stanzas present 
picture possibilities. Imagine a space on the blackboard 
to be a canvas. Tell what you would paint on it to 
show the story of the first line. 

Suggestive Ans. (An ideal answer. Not the one 
that a pupil will probably give, — at least, not on first 
trial.) — I would paint an old church tower, with a 
belfry, and perhaps just a suggestion of the bell within. 
It would be a sunset scene ; but not a gorgeous sunset 
of red and gold, because the brilliant colors would 
hardly be in keeping with a mournful poem : so I will 
make it a later hour of sunset, and show only as much 
of the reflected light as will be necessary to suggest the 
time of day. 

Q. Why do you choose an old church ? 

Ans. O, — because it is more suggestive to me of 
still and quiet meditation. 

Teacher. Now read the line (or, rather, give it, 
since you know the words) and try to see the picture as 
you read it. 

The curfew (see the church tower) tolls (hear the bell) 
the knell (hear it) of parting day (see it). 

Q. Paint a picture for the second line. 

Ans. I would keep my church tower and my sunset, 
but they would be put a little farther away, and, 
somehow, I would make them less prominent. Then 
I would bring in green pasture lands (but not too 
bright), and a lane, and along the lane I would have 
cows, — not a number driven along together by a boy 
or a dog, but just straggling ones, coming home by 
instinct and cropping the grass here and there as they 
come. 

Q. Where do you get that idea of the cows .? 

Ans. It is the one I seem to see in lowing and winds. 

Teacher. Read the line and see your picture. 

Suggestive Criticism. I think your cows came home 
pretty fast, after all. I don't think they stopped to 
eat any. Did you see them do it .^ 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 415 

Q. Paint a picture for the third line. 

Jns. I would have the church tower and the sunset, 
but the tower would be farther off this time, and not 
quite so large. I would keep the lane, and a cow or 
two (they would not be quite as noticeable as in the 
picture before). Then I would paint a team of horses 
coming along the lane. They would be farm horses, — 
plodding ones, — and they would be rather tired and 
their heads would not be high. They would be 
dragging an overturned plow, and the hnes would be 
looped up on the side of one. The plowman would 
be beside them, " plodding " along, and something in 
his appearance would suggest that he was tired and 
walking heavily. Maybe Td show a little cottage in 
the distance, — and a barn, — I'm not sure whether I 
could get it all in. 

Teacher. Then read the line, and see if you can get 
it all into your reading. 

Q. Who is me in the fourth line .^ 

Ans. The poet. 

Q. Paint the fourth picture. 

Ans. The plowman and the cows have disappeared. 
The sun has sunk from sight. The old church tower 
comes into the foreground again. Below it and beyond 
it, are the graves, — the white tombstones softened 
by the fading light. A fence seems to be there, and 
over the fence a man is leaning. He seems to have 
been there a good while. I think he has watched the 
cows come home, and the sun sink down, and the 
shadows creep on, and the graveyard grow still; and 
now he feels it, and he hkes it, and he isn't afraid. 

Teacher. Then you watch it as he has watched it, 
while you read the four hnes, and see if you can make 
the darkness and the stillness come on for us. Just 
wait one moment until we can get a ghmpse of the pic- 
ture and/^^/ hke it, to help you out. Now. 

Stanza 2. The fading of the ghmmering landscape 
would be hard to paint. We feel the effect : we feel 



41 6 TEACHING TO READ 

15. The day is done, and the darkness 

Falls from the wings of Night, 
As a feather is wafted downward 
From an eagle in his flight. 

The Day is Done — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 

16. The last rays of the sun to-day, — a handful of 
golden arrows, — were shot through the beeches at 
5 P.M., and the last of the roostward-flying crows 
passed over ten minutes later. An hour afterwards 
the night had set in, breezy, cold, clear, and moonlit. 
Does an October night need anything else 't 

An October Evening s Ramble — Charles Conrad Abbott. 



the solemn stillness that the brush cannot portray. 
The single beetle wheeling his droning flight would make 
a suggestive picture, but the sound, — like the buzz 
of a single fly on the windowpane on a sleepy after- 
noon, — is most suggestive of stillness and rest. A 
single beetle, a single fly, the chirp of a single bird, 
throws the stillness into contrast; a dozen would 
disturb and break it. 

Tinklings are bright and cheery when the cows are 
hungrily cropping their food, — drowsy is another effect. 

Stanza 3. Save. — Except. Be careful that your 
hearers grasp the fact that they must consider a second 
exception to the stillness. Its presence makes a long 
sentence and a good deal to think about. Tell them 
that they are to " except " another condition, but do 
not hurry them into it without a chance to prepare for it. 

Moping owl. — Not yet quite awake. When do owls 
sleep ^ 

Wandering. — Not an energetic word. 

Bower. — A recess sheltered or covered with foliage. 
Secret bower. — Are owls' nests easy to find ^ 

Verify the use of reign, solitary, ancient. 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 417 

17. Now came still Evening on, and Twilight gray 
Had in her sober livery all things clad ; 
Silence accompanied ; for beast and bird, 
They to their grassy couch, these to their nests 
s Were slunk, all but the wakeful nightingale ; 
She all night long her amorous descant sung ; 
Silence was pleased : now glowed the firmament 
With living sapphires : Hesperus, that led 
The starry host, rode brightest, till the Moon, 
10 Rising in clouded majesty, at length. 

Apparent queen, unveiled her peerless light, 
And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw. 

Paradise Lost. Book IV — John Milton. 



15-17. When you have studied these descriptions 
of the coming on of night, compare them with No. 14. 

15. 'How do you like the feather comparison.? 
Remember that an eagle* flies high. Does darkness 
come on much more quickly, some nights than others .? 
In spite of much criticism, there is a beauty in the lines 
that will continue to appeal to our sejises. 

How do you like the suggestion in wings of Night? 
Notice that Night is personified. 

Is the meter of No. 15 or No. 14 the better adapted 
to the thought .? 

17. Why still Evening .? Gray Twilight ? Explain 
sober livery. Is silence personified '^. — Compare lines 
3 and 7. 

They. — Who .? These. — Which .? When before 
have we had an animal's bed called a couch? 

Do you like the word slunk (line 5) ^. 

Slink, to sneak ; to creep away meanly ; to steal away. 



41 8 TEACHING TO READ 

1 8. With klingle, klangle, klingle, 

Way down the dusty dingle, 

The cows are coming home ; 
Now sweet and clear, and faint and low. 
The airy tinklings come and go. 
Like chimings from some far-off tower, 
Or patterings of an April shower 
That makes the daisies grow — 

Ko-ling, ko-lang, kolinglelingle, 

Way down the darkening dingle 

The cows come slowly home. 

When the Cows Come Home — Agnes E. Mitchell, 

Descant, a variation of an air; a variation by ornament 
of the main subject. 

What was the nightingale's subject } 
Why was Silence pleased (line 7) .^ 
Explain the comparison in sapphires. Why living 
sapphires? 

Hesperus, the evening star. It is the most brilliant of all 

the planetary bodies. 

» 

How did Hesperus lead .^ 

How might clouds lend majesty to the rising of the 
moon (lines 9 and 10) .^ 
Why apparent queen .^ 

" What is apparent is easily and quickly understood by 
the senses or the mind." 

Unveiled. — How .f* Meaning of peerless ^ Notice 
that by making use of the beautiful Hesperus the poet 
enhances the beauty of his moon. 

How long did Hesperus ride brightest ? 

How do you like the idea of the Moon throwing a 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 419 

19. Lead out the pageant : sad and slow, 
As fits a universal woe, 
Let the long, long procession go. 
And let the sorrowing crowd about it grow. 
And let the mournful martial music blow; 
The last great Englishman is low. 

Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington — Alfred Tennyson. 



silver mantle over the dark ? The idea of the dark cov- 
ering other things is much more common in literature. 
What is your opinion of the mind of the man who 
could think such beautiful thoughts .^ Do you wonder 
that he is called one of the greatest English poets .^ 

18. Sounds may be imagined as well as sights. 
Watch the phrasing. The airy tinklings come and go 

— how .? Let or help you. Wh at kind of an April shower ? 

19. Duke of Wellington, the great British general who 
defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. He died in 1852, when 
Tennyson was forty-three years old. The ode was published 
on the day of the funeral, which was attended by all the 
pomp and ceremony that English patriotism could suggest. 

How different from No. 18 ! Can you hear the 
mournful martial music? Can you imagine the funeral 
pace .? 

Let the long, long procession go — how .^ What does 
the colon in hne i say ? 

The regulation of time in reading is suggested by the 
character of what is read. The mind's estimate of the 
thought is the regulator. It regulates it through the 
amount of collateral thinking that it arouses or requires ; 
that is, by the reasoning it engenders, the pictures it 



420 TEACHING TO READ 

suggests, the emotion it calls up. We do not read 
No. 19 slowly in imitation of the funeral procession, 
but because of the largeness of the idea to be grasped, 
the impressiveness of the thoughts set before us, the re- 
tarding influence of sadness and sorrow, and a sym- 
pathetic response to the rate of action described. ' 

We do not necessarily read swiftly occurring inci- 
dents at a fast rate. Indeed, many rapidly moving 
scenes are described slowly and with long thought-filled 
pauses, because, as has already been pointed out in 
No. 12, words and sentences may suggest actions many 
times out of proportion with the actual time con- 
sumed in utterance. To read such words and sen- 
tences fast, is only to confuse a listener and to blur or 
strike out the suggested collateral thought. One sen- 
tence, — particularly in poetry, — may suggest pictures 
or ideas that it would require many sentences to para- 
phrase. Dwelling on selections particularly adapted 
to " studies in time " develops emotional appreciation 
and power of the imagination. We therefore say to 
pupils : 

" We do not ask you to read fast or slowly, but only 
to study the selections and try to express every idea 
that lies in each one. When a word or a sentence ex- 
presses or suggests something to you, — something im- 
portant, or something beautiful, or whatever . it may 
be, — try to see it or to understand it so perfectly your- 
self that you can make others see and understand it, 
too, — and by using only the exact words in the book. 
Oftentimes it is easy enough to explain what we mean 
if we are allowed to talk about it, but in reading we 
must utter the difficult sentences in such a way that 
they will explain themselves." 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 42 1 

20. THE LARK IN THE GOLD FIELDS 
From It Is Never Too Late to Mend. 

1. A group of rough miners were standing near a 
lark's cage in far-away Australia. 

" Hush ! '' cried one; " he is going to sing/' And 
the whole party had their eyes turned with expectation 
toward the bird. 

2. Like most singers, he kept them waiting a bit. 
But at last, just at noon, when the mistress of the house 
had warranted him to sing, the little feathered exile 
began as it were to tune his pipes. The savage men 
gathered round the cage that moment, and amidst 
a dead stillness the bird uttered some very uncertain 
chirps ; but after a while he seemed to revive his 
memories, and call his ancient cadences back to him 
one by one, and string them sotto voce. 

3. And then the same sun that had warmed his little 
heart at home came glowing down on him here, and he 
gave music back for it more and more, till, at last, 
amidst the breathless silence and glistening eyes of the 
rough diggers hanging on his voice, out burst in that 
distant land his English song. 

4. It swelled his little throat, and gushed from him 
with thrilling force and plenty; and every time he 
checked his song to think of its theme, — the green 
meadows, the quiet-stealing streams, the clover he 
first soared from, and the spring he loved so well, — 
a loud sigh from many a rough bosom, many a wild and 
wicked heart, told how tight the listeners had held 
their breath to hear him. And when he swelled with 
song again, and poured with all his soul the green 
meadows, the quiet brooks, the honey clover, and the 
English spring, the rugged mouths opened and so 
stayed, and the shaggy lips trembled, and more than 
one tear trickled from fierce, unbridled hearts, down 
bronzed and rugged cheeks. Sweet home ! 



422 TEACHING TO READ 

5. And these shaggy men, full of oaths and strife and 
cupidity, had once been white-headed boys, and most 
of them had strolled about the English fields with 
little sisters and little brothers, and seen the lark rise 
and heard him sing this very song. The little play- 
mates lay in the churchyard, and they were full of oaths 
and drink, and lusts and remorses, — but no note was 
changed in this immortal song. 

6. And so, for a moment or two, years of vice rolled 
away like a dark cloud from the memory, and the past 
shone out in the song-shine; they came back bright 
as the immortal notes that lighted them, — those 
faded pictures and those fleeted days ; the cottage ; 
the old mother's tears when he left her without one 
grain of sorrow; the village church and its simple 
chimes, — ding-dong-bell, ding-dong-bell, ding-dong- 
bell; the clover field hard by, in which he lay and 
gambolled while the lark praised God overhead ; the 
chubby playmates that never grew to be wicked ; 
the sweet, sweet hours of youth, innocence, and home. 

7. George stayed until the lark gave up singing alto- 
gether, and then said, " Now I am off. I don't want 
to hear bad language after that ; let us take the lark's 
chirp home to bed with us ; " and they made off. 

8. And true it was ; — the pure strains dwelt upon 
their spirits, and refreshed and purified these sojourners 
in a godless place. Meeting these two figures on Sun- 
day afternoon, armed each with a double-barreled 
gun and a revolver, you would never have guessed 
what gentle thoughts possessed them wholly. They 
talked less than they did coming, but they felt so quiet 

and happy. Charles Reade. 



20. Imagining sounds, continued. 
Have the pupils been forgetting to read to some one } 
The poorest reader in the class can learn to introduce 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 423 

these men, a group of rough miners. If you are going 
to introduce a gentleman to Mr. Brown, you first look 
to Mr. Brown to be sure that you have his attention. 
Lead the pupils to love this little feathered exile, 
wired in from the fields and the skies that were his 
birthright, but happy in his memories, and in the sun- 
shine toward which he could not soar, — a little 
feathered missionarj^, pouring forth a beautiful message 
of. home and home purity, and, all unconsciously, 
through the continued use of his one great gift, moving 
" wild and wicked " hearts. 

John Burroughs calls him " a creature of light and air and 
motion, the companion of the plowman, the shepherd, the 
harvester, — whose nest is in the stubble arid whose tryst is in 
the clouds." " Its life," he writes, in " Birds and Poets," 
" affords that kind of contrast which the imagination loves, 
— one moment a plain pedestrian bird, hardly distinguish- 
able from the ground, the next a soaring, untiring songster, 
reveling in the upper air, challenging the eye to follow him 
and the ear to separate his notes. 

" The song is not especially melodious but blithesome, sib- 
ilant, and unceasing ... its notes nearly all alike and all in 
the same key, but rapid, swarming, prodigal, showering down 
thick and fast as drops of rain in a summer shower." 

Among the American birds that compare with the lark, 
he names the golden-crowned thrush, or ovenbird. " It 
frequently sings on the wing up aloft after the manner of 
the lark. Starting from its low perch, it rises in a spiral 
flight far above the tallest trees, and breaks out into a clear, 
ringing, ecstatic song, sweeter and more richly modulated 
than the sk)dark's, but brief, ceasing almost before you have 
noticed it ; whereas the skylark goes singing away after you 
have forgotten him and returned to him a dozen times." 



424 



TEACHING TO READ 



Wordsworth writes of the lark : 

Up with me! up with me into the clouds! 

For thy song, Lark, is strong ; » 

Up with me, up with me into the clouds! 

Singing, singing, 
With clouds and sky about thee ringing, 

Lift me, guide me till I find 
That spot which seems so to thy mind! 

Alas! my journey, rugged and uneven. 

Through prickly moors or dusty ways must wind ; 

But hearing thee, or others of thy kind. 

As full of gladness and as free as heaven, 

I, with my fate contented, will plod on. 

And hope for higher raptures, when life's day is done. 

\2. Sotto voce (sot'to vo'cha), with subdued voice. 

^[3. Do not miss the balance between at home and 
here; distant land and English. 

^4. Study carefully the formation of the first sen- 
tence. What do the ands tell you ? 

Trace the natural order of the second sentence. 
What is the leading thought ? 

1(5. What are the contrasting thoughts in sentence 
I ? In sentence 2 ? 

Trace the references between sentences 2 and i : 

these shaggy men, had once been The Kttle playmates 

white-headed boys, lay in the churchyard, 

and and 

most of them had strolled. . . with they were full of oaths 

little sisters and little brothers, and drink, and lusts and 

remorses, — 

and but 

seen the lark rise and heard him no note was changed in 

sing this very song. this immortal song. 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 



425 



Wherein lies the contrast in the thoughts connected 
by hut? The equahty in those connected by and? 

^6. How many sentences ? Does it tell us that 
these men were permanently reformed ? But what 
great contrast was wrought for a moment ? Does it 
tell us that the work was not permanent with any ? 
Can we imagine that it might be ? 

They (line 3). — What?. When the idea or ideas 
referred to follow instead of precede, careful manage- 
ment of the pronoun is necessary. It must be presented 
to the hearers in such a way that they will see that it 
does not refer to anything already mentioned, and will 
wait for the explanation. Then, when the explanation 
does come, it must be read in such a way that they will 
promptl}^ recognize it and link it back with the word 
to which it belongs. Recall the first stanza of No. 7. 

Let the semicolons do their work. 



the cottage; 

the old mother's tears — when he 

left her without one grain of 

sorrow ; 

the village church 
and its simple chimes (ding-dong- 
bell) ; 

the clover field hard by — in 
which he lay and gambolled 
while the lark praised God 
overhead ; 

the chubby playmates — that 
never grew to be wicked ; 

youth, 

the sweet, sweet hours of 



they 



those faded pictures 

and 
those fleeted days ; 



mnocence, 

and 
home. 



TURNER, TEACH. TO READ 



28 



426 TEACHING TO READ 

21. RIP VAN WINKLE 
From Rip Van Winkle. The Sketch Book. 

1. Whoever has made a voyage up the Hudson must 
remember the Kaatskill Mountains. They are a dis- 
membered branch of the great Appalachian family, 
and are seen away to the west of the river, swelling up 
to a noble height, and lording it over the surrounding 
country. Every change of season, every change of 
weather, indeed, every hour of the day, produces some 
change in the magical hues and shapes of these moun- 
tains ; and they are regarded by all the goodwives, far 
and near, as perfect barometers. . . . 

2. At the foot of these fairy mountains, the voyager 
may have descried the light smoke curling up from a 
village, whose shingle roofs gleam among the trees, 
just where the blue tints of the upland melt away into 
the fresh green of the nearer landscape. It is a little 
village, of great antiquity, having been founded by some 
of the Dutch colonists in the early times of the prov- 
ince, just about the beginning of the government of 
the good Peter Stuyvesant (may he rest in peace !), 
and there were some of the houses of the original 
settlers standing within a few years, built of small yellow 
bricks, brought from Holland, having latticed windows 
and gable fronts, surmounted with weathercocks. 

3. In that same village, and in one of these very 
houses (which to tell the precise truth, was sadly time- 
worn and weather-beaten), there lived, many years since, 
while the country was yet a province of Great Britain, 
a simple, good-natured fellow, of the name of Rip 
Van Winkle. He was a descendant of the Van Winkles 
who figured so gallantly in the chivalrous days of Peter 
Stuyvesant, and accompanied him to the siege of Fort 
Christina. He inherited, however, but little of the 
martial character of his ancestors. I have observed 
that he was a simple, good-natured man ; he was, 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 427 

moreover, a kind neighbor and an obedient henpecked 
husband. ... 

4. Certain it is that he was a great favorite among 
all the goodwives of the village, who as usual with the 
amiable sex took his part in all family squabbles, and 
never failed, whenever they talked those matters over, 
in their evening gossipings, to lay all the blame on 
Dame Van Winkle. The children of the village, too, 
would shout with joy whenever he approached. He 
assisted at their sports, made their playthings, taught 
them to fly kites and shoot marbles, and told them long 
stories of ghosts, witches, and Indians. Whenever 
he went dodging about the village, he was surrounded 
by a troop of them, hanging on his skirts, clambering 
on his back, and playing a thousand tricks on him with 
impunity ; and not a dog would bark at him throughout 
the neighborhood. 

5. The great error in Rip's composition was an insu- 
perable aversion to all kinds of profitable labor. It could 
not be from the want of assiduity or perseverance ; for 
he would sit on a wet rock, with a rod as long and heavy 
as a Tartar's lance, and fish all day without a murmur, 
even though he should not be encouraged by a single 
nibble. He would carry a fowKng-piece on his shoulder, 
for hours together, trudging through woods and swamps, 
and up hill and down dale, to shoot a few squirrels or 
wild pigeons. He would never refuse to assist a 
neighbor even in the roughest toil, and was a foremost 
man at all country froUcs for husking Indian corn, or 
building stone fences ; the women of the village, too, 
used to" employ him to run their errands, and to do 
such little odd jobs as their less obliging husbands would 
not do for them. In a word. Rip was ready to attend 
to anybody's business but his own; but as to doing 
family duty and keeping his farm in order, he found it 
impossible. ... 

' 6. His children, too, were as ragged and wild as if they 
belonged to nobody. His son Rip, an urchin begotten 



428 TEACHING TO READ 

in his own likeness, promised to inherit the habits, 
with the old clothes, of his father. He was generally 
seen trooping like a colt at his mother's heels, equipped 
in a pair of his father's cast-off galligaskins which he 
had much ado to hold up with one hand, as a fine lady 
does her train in bad weather. 

7. Rip Van Winkle, however, was one of those happy 
mortals, of foolish, well-oiled dispositions, who take 
the world easy, eat white bread or brown, whichever 
can be got with least thought or trouble, and would 
rather starve on a penny than work for a pound. If 
left to himself, he would have whistled life away, in 
perfect contentment ; but his wife kept continually 
dinning in his ears about his idleness, his carelessness, 
and the ruin he was bringing on his family. Morning, 
noon, and night, her tongue was incessantly going, and 
everything he said or did was sure to produce a torrent 
of household eloquence. Rip had but one way of 
replying to all lectures of the kind, and that, by frequent 
use, had grown into a habit. He shrugged his shoulders, 
shook his head, cast up his eyes, but said nothing. This 
however, always provoked a fresh volley from his wife ; 
so that he was fain to draw off his forces, and take to 
the outside of the house — the only side which, in 
truth, belongs to a henpecked husband. 

8. Rip's sole domestic adherent was his dog Wolf, 
who was as much henpecked as his master; for Dame 
Van Winkle regarded them as companions in idleness, 
and even looked upon Wolf with an evil eye, as the cause 
of his master's going so often astray. True it is, in all 
points of spirit befitting an honorable dog, he was as 
courageous an animal as ever scoured the woods — 
but what courage can withstand the ever enduring 
and all-besetting terrors of a woman's tongue ? The 
moment Wolf entered the house his crest fell, his tail 
drooped to the ground, or curled between his legs, he 
sneaked about with a gallows air, casting many a side-' 
long glance at Dame Van Winkle, and at the least 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION ^429 

flourish of a broomstick or ladle, he would fly to the 
door with yelping precipitation. ... 

9. Poor Rip was at last reduced almost to despair; 
and his only alternative, to escape from the labor of the 
farm and clamor of his wife, was to take gun in hand 
and stroll away into the woods. Here he would some- 
times seat himself at the foot of a tree, and share the 
contents of his wallet with Wolf, with whom he sym- 
pathized as a fellow-suff"erer in persecution. " Poor 
Wolf," he would say, " thy mistress leads thee a 
dog's Ufe of it ; but never mind, my lad, whilst I Kve 
thou shalt never want a friend to stand by thee ! " 
Wolf would wag his tail, look wistfully in his master's 
face ; and if dogs can feel pity I verily beheve he recip- 
rocated the sentiment with all his heart. 

Washington Irving. 



21. It is said that very few people read descriptions 
well. The inactivity of the imagination is without 
doubt responsible for much of the poor reading. Fail- 
ing to catch the full meaning of the words, to see the 
full picture that they suggest, the words themselves do 
not appeal to the reader with their real value, and, 
consequently, are not rendered in a manner suggesting 
the same; neither do they stimulate the emotional 
response which is such a vital element in giving Hfe 
to reading. It is very easy to allow a pupil's pronounc- 
ing vocabulary to outrun his ideas and outdistance 
his power of emotional expression. 

The reader's responsibility to his hearer needs to be 
repeatedly emphasized. It is his duty to present the 
thought, the whole thought, and the spirit of the thought. 
The most vivid description that an author can write, 
the most vivid picture that he can paint, can issue 



430 ^ TEACHING TO READ 

lifeless and flat from the lips of an unappreciative reader. 
And no matter how appreciative the listener may be, 
he cannot fail to be a loser from such a presentation, 
for his own imagination cannot soar to the wonted 
height when weighed down by a sluggish manner in 
a reader. 

All descriptions are not equally vivid ; the thought 
of all sentences not equally so, nor of all words. The 
reader must learn to recognize the words and sentences 
that carry life, to sense them at sight : to recognize not 
only the thought-words, but the life-words, the spirit- 
words, the picture-words, and groups of words. This 
selection is full of pictures, from the opening scenic 
description to the close, and the dry humor of Irving is, 
as usual, tucking smiles here and there between the lines. 

Descriptions of this sort should always be given in the 
most direct and conversational manner possible. Lead 
the readers to feel that they have something interesting 
to give, something that their hearers have never heard 
before. See who can make it " sound the most inter- 
esting." Sometimes, to stimulate effort, a teacher may 
say to a class : " If he makes a good story of it, — 
makes it seem interesting and worth listening to, you 
are to listen ; but if he does not, you may close your 
eyes. — ' Now, John, keep them awake ! ' " And 
" John " will make added effort, and the teacher will 
catch the rest taking every opportunity to study the 
passage over for themselves in prospect of their "turns." 

l[i. The teacher must be alert for the application of 
every principle that she has taught. Only a few will 
be mentioned here ; for instance, the descending grada- 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 431 

tion of ideas in sentence 3. Change to ascending 
order. — Is it as effective ? 

• ^2. Why fairy mountains? Can you describe a 
picture that would illustrate sentence i ? Where draw- 
ing is well taught, not a few pupils may be able to 
sketch such a picture with pencil or colors. If it is 
too difficult to " see," it is too difficult to read. 

What does the comma after village (sentence 2) say ? 
Try reading without it. 

Peter Stuyvesant, last Dutch governor of New Netherlands. 

Be careful that the bricks do not have the latticed 
windows. 

What were surmounted with weathercocks? 

^[3. Sentence i. Do 3^ou remember how Rip Van 
Winkle was loyal to the king when he awoke after the 
Revolutionary War? (See No. 21, Chapter XII.) 

Fort Christina. — Near Wilmington, Delaware. It was 
built by Swedes in 1638. But the Dutch claimed the ter- 
ritory, and in 1654 "Governor Stuyvesant came with a fleet 
from New Amsterdam (New York), captured the country, and 
sent home those of the colonists who would not swear fidelity 
to the Dutch government." 

Washington Irving tells us in the " Knickerbocker History 
of New York " that " the impregnable fortress of Fort 
Christina, which like another Troy had stood a siege of full 
ten hours, was finally carried by assault, without the loss of 
a single man on either side." 

Catch the spirit as well as the thought, and appre- 
ciate the dry humor. 

The selection is full of pictures : the evening gossip- 
ingSy and Rip with the children (^[4); the fisher, the 



432 TEACHING TO READ 

hunter, the neighbor-helper, the huskings, the fence- 
buildings, the errand-runner, and, in contrast, the un- 
kept farm (^s) > ^i^ children, his son, with the breeches 
he must hold up (116); etc. Try to catch the spirit 
of the " happy-go-lucky " disposition and the whistling 
(1[7), and do not miss the contrast in the thoughts 
following but : the dinning in his ears, the incessantly 
going tongue ; the torrent of household eloquence. Then 
" see " Rip as he shrugs his shoulders and shakes his 
head and casts up his eyes, — but says nothing. 

When you see and feel such descriptions, they will 
never be monotonous or unattractive. If you do not 
see and feel, there is small gain in the reading. 

Why does such description continue popular .f* 

22. Nothing but sympathetic appreciation of the 
changing conditions can regulate the time in such selec- 
tions as No. 22. There is more than slowness in lines 
1-28 and more than an accelerated rate in lines 29-50. 

The influence of circumstances must be felt to begin 
with. I, the reader, can interpret the experiences of 
7, the author, only so far as he can appreciate them, 
can enter sympathetically into them. We have all 
dozed, " half asleep and half awake ; " we have all 
yawned (not to be compounded with dozing) ; we have 
all lain awake while others slept, and wished that we 
could sleep ! Healthy boyhood and girlhood may not 
recall this last experience, but they can imagine it. 

So I lay (line 13) — lazily watching the things before 
him — not because they particularly interested him, 
but because they were within range of his vision. 
Study the things described. Notice how certain words 



IS 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 433 

22. THE WHITE SQUALL 

On deck beneath the awning, 
I dozing lay and yawning ; 
It was the gray of dawning, 

Ere yet the sun arose ; 
And above the funnel's roaring. 
And the fitful wind's deploring, 
I heard the cabin snoring 

With universal nose. 
I could hear the passengers snorting, — 
I envied their disporting. 
Vainly I was courting 

The pleasures of a doze. 

So I lay and wondered why light 
Came not, and watched the twihght. 
And the glimmer of the skyUght, 

That shot across the deck; 
And the binnacle, pale and steady, 
And the dull ghmpse of the dead-eye. 
And the sparks in fiery eddy 

That whirled from the chimney-neck. 
In our jovial floating prison 
There was sleep from fore to mizzen, 
And never a star had risen 

The hazy sky to speck. 



25 



And so the hours kept tolUng ; 
And through the ocean roUing 
Went brave Iberia bowhng. 
Before the break of day, — 



contribute to the drowsiness of the scene {So I lay, 
twilight, glimmer, pale, and steady, dull glimpse), and 
also how the drowsiness is saved from monotony by the 



434 TEACHING TO READ 

When a squall, upon a sudden, 
30 Came o'er the waters scudding; 

And the clouds began to gather, 

And the sea was lashed to lather. 

And the lowering thunder giumbled, 

And the lightning jumped and tumbled, 
35 And the ship and all the ocean 

Woke up in wild commotion. 

Then the wind set up a howling, 

And the poodle dog a yowling. 

And the cocks began a crowing, 
40 And the old cow raised a lowing. 

As she heard the tempest blowing; 

And the fowls and geese did cackle. 

And the cordage and the tackle 

Began to skriek and crackle ; 

45 And the captain he was bawling. 

And the sailors pulling, hauling. 

And the quarter-deck tarpaulin 

Was shivered in the squalling; 

And the passengers awaken 
50 Most pitifully shaken. 

William Makepeace Thackeray. 



sparks in fiery eddy that whirled from the chimney-neck. 

Why a prison (line 21) ,^ 

And so the hours kept tolling (line 25). — He lay awake 
a long time. 

Bowling, moving rapidly and smoothly. 

A squall (Hne 29). — A new character is introduced. 
Note the contrasting character of what follows. Mr. 
Thackeray could have described a squall without pref- 
acing it with a description of a calm, but would it 
have been as effective f 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 435 

23. THE ARTIST'S SECRET 
From Dreams. 

There was an artist once, and he painted a picture. 
Other artists had colors richer and rarer, and painted 
more notable pictures. He painted his with one color; 
there was a wonderful red glow on it ; and the people 
went up and down, saying, " We like the picture, we 
like the glow." 

The other artists came and said, " Where does he get 
his color from .^ " They asked him ; and he smiled and 
said, " I cannot tell you ; " and worked on with his 
head bent low. 

And one went to the far East and bought costly 
pigments, and made a rare color and painted, but after 
a time the picture faded. Another read in the old 
books, and made a color rich and rare, but when he 
had put it on the picture it was dead. 

But the artist painted on. Always the work got 



White Squall, a sudden gust of wind, accompanied by 
rain ; one that produces no diminution of light, as does the 
hlack squall, which is accompanied by a dark cloud. 

The squall came sudden, its pace was scudding, the 
clouds were hurried, the sea was lashed, the lightning 
jumped and tumbled, and everA^thing was confusion ; 
but the hearer must not be confused. 

The action of the captain is not at all like the work 
of the sailors. What were they pulling? Hauling? 
Why.? Why did he bawl? 

Bawl, to cry with a loud, full sound ; to shout. 

Tarpaulin, a canvas covered with tar, or any waterproof 
cloth, used for covering the hatches of a ship, hammocks, 
boats, etc. 



436 TEACHING TO READ 

redder and redder, and the artist grew whiter and whiter. 
At last one day they found him dead before his picture, 
and they took him up to bury him. The other men 
looked about in all the pots and crucibles, but they 
found nothing they had not. 

And when they undressed him to put his grave- 
clothes on him, they found above his left breast the 
mark of a wound — it was an old, old wound, that 
must have been there all his life, for the edges were 
old and hardened ; but Death, who seals all things, 
had drawn the edges together, and closed it up. 

And they buried him. And still the people went 
about saying, " Where did he get his color from ^ " 

And it came to pass that after a while the artist was 
forgotten — but the work lived. Qlive Schreiner. 



23. Sometimes some great truth or some moral 
lesson lies hidden in a purely imaginative story. The 
artist painted with his heart's blood ; he " put his life 
into his work." As in ^*The Building of the Ship," 

" His heart was in his work, and the heart 
Giveth grace unto every art." 

Note the beauty and suggestiveness of the sentences. 

1[i. Can you imagine why the writer allowed others 
to paint more notable pictures, — with colors richer 
and rarer ^ The writer of an imaginary story may 
arrange such conditions to suit herself. This writer 
has used short sentences and few of them, so we may 
conclude that she considered each one carefully and used 
only those for which she had need. 

But the people liked the picture, — liked the glow. The 
results accomplished by the sincere worker, the one 
who " enters into his work with all his heart," may 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 437 

be outstripped, but they will not be without commen- 
dation. 

A young lady was reciting before a large class in one 
of our schools of elocution. The president of the 
school, in commenting upon her effort later on, re- 
marked : " Miss -'s work is full of bad qualities : 

she knows, almost nothing of the art of expression; 
but she throws herself so completely into her work and 
enters so heartily into sympathy with her selection, that 
before we know it we are forgetting to be critical, and 
are sitting charmed under conditions which in many 
others we could hardly endure." 

1f2. / cannot tell you. — Why does he not say, 
" I will not " '. 

Have you ever admired the way some one " threw 
herself into her task " 1 Noticed how the quality lent 
beauty and grace to its accomplishment .^ Do you 
think she recognized the source of that particular charm 
herself, — was conscious of it .^ 

Worked on. — Unceasing effort : another quality of 
success. With his head hent low. — Humility. 

^[3. We can neither imitate nor purchase of another 
those qualities that grow in the heart. 

^4. Got redder and redder. — The improvement that 
grows with honest effort and perseverance. 

^5. The story-teller gives the " Secret " only by 
suggestion. 

Like the people who gazed on " The Great Stone 
Face," some will see it more clearly than others. 

^6. The world is full of people hunting for the se- 
cret of success, who do not see that it lies in " putting 
the heart into the work," and " sticking to it." 

^[7. Such has ever been the method of those who 



438 TEACHING TO READ 

24. THE GLADIATOR 

From Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. 

I see before me the Gladiator lie ; 

He leans upon his hand — his manly brow 
Consents to death, but conquers agony, 
And his droop'd head sinks gradually low — 
5 And through his side the last drops, ebbing slow 
From the red gash, fall heavy, one by one, 
Like the first of a thundershower ; and now 
The arena swims around him — he is gone. 
Ere ceased the inhuman shout which hailed the wretch 
who won. 

10 He heard it, but he heeded not — his eyes 
Were with his heart, and that was far away : 
He recked not of the life he lost nor prize. 
But where his rude hut by the Danube lay, 
There were his 3^oung barbarians all at play, 

15 There was their Dacian mother — he, their sire, 
Butchered to make a Roman holiday — 
All this rushed with his blood — shall he expire 
And unavenged ? Arise, ye Goths, and glut your ire ! 

Lord Byron. 



have done " things worth while," and accomplished 
results that " live." 

24. Visions are pictures seen by the eye of the mind. 
Lord Byron, lingering about the amphitheater at Rome, 
— as we can readily believe that he did, — no doubt 
peopled it in his imagination with the vast crowds 
(80,000 people) that used to gather there. He could 
see, in his mind's eye, the gladiators and the wild 
beasts ; could sense the sickening smell of blood, and 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 439 

hear the huzzas of the multitude : and what he saw, he 

makes us see. 

Lord Byron was an EngUsh poet, but spent many 
years outside his native country. In " Childe Harold's 
Pilgrimage," he travels through Portugal, Spain, Turkey, 
Greece, Belgium, and Italy. He spent six years in 
Italy. This picture of the gladiator is one of the 
famous gems among his works. Why is it so good .? 

Stanza I. Line i. The Gladiator. — See Dictionary. 
The Romans made slaves of their conquered enemies. 
Those physically fit were often trained for gladiators. 

Lie. — Spent ; overcome. 

Line 3. Consents to death, but will not show the 
agony that it is causing him. 

Line 9. Why inhuman shout? 

Stanza 2. The opening of the stanza takes us back, 
in time, to before he is gone, etc., hne 8, stanza i. 

His eyes were with his heart. — He, too, has a vision ; 
thus we have a picture within a picture. 

Recked not of. — Thought not of. 

Danube, Barbarians, Dacian, Goths (lines 13-18). — On the 
north side of the Danube River, there was at one time a 
Roman province, called Dacia. About 270 a.d. most of its 
inhabitants were driven to the south side of the Danube by 
the Goths and Vandals (barbarous tribes from the north 
and east) to whom the province was finally relinquished, and 
by the former of whom it was then settled. The Goths of 
Dacia lived peacefully for more than fi^y years and were 
converted to Christianity. Then the Huns, a barbarous 
tribe from Asia, came over and attacked them and the Goths 
(Visigoths, or western Goths, they were then called) were 
allowed to move across the Danube and come under the pro- 
tection of the Romans. But trouble soon arose with the 



440 TEACHING TO READ 

• 25. THE NEW SOUTH 

From a Toast delivered before the New England Society, 
New York, December 22, 1886. 

Dr. Talmage has drawn for you, with a master hand, 
the picture of your returning armies. He has told 
you how, in the pomp and circumstance of war, they 
came back to you, marching with proud and victorious 

5 tread, reading their glory in a nation's eyes. Will you 
bear with me while I tell you of another army that 
sought its home at the close of the late war .^ An army 
that marched home in defeat and not in victory ; in 
pathos and not in splendor, but in glory that equalled 

10 yours, and to hearts as loving as ever welcomed heroes 
home. Let me picture to you the footsore Confederate 
soldier, as, buttoning up in his faded gray jacket the 
parole which was to bear testimony to his children of 
his fidelity and faith, he turned his face southward 

15 from Appomattox in April, 1865. Think of him as 
ragged, half-starved, heavy-hearted, enfeebled by want 
and wounds ; having fought to exhaustion, he surren- 
ders his gun, wrings the handsof his comradesin silence, 
and, lifting his tear-stained and pallid face for the last 

20 time to the graves that dot the old Virginia hills, pulls 
his gray cap over his brow and begins the slow and 
painful journey. What does he find ? — Let me ask 
you who went to your homes eager to find, in the wel- 
come you had justly earned, full payment for four years' 



Romans; battles were fought; and the Goths were tempo- 
rarily subdued. Later they rebelled, and for nearly seventy- 
five years helped the other barbarous tribes to harass Rome. 

Who says : Shall he expire and (be) unavenged? 
Arise. — The Goths " arose " so many times that 
the word is particularly fit. Meaning of glut? 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 441 

25 sacrifice — what does he find when he reaches the home 
he left so prosperous and beautiful ? He finds his 
house in ruins, his farm devastated, his slaves free, 
his stock killed, his barn empty, his trade destroyed, 
his money worthless ; his social system, feudal in its 

30 magnificence, swept away ; his people without law or 
legal status ; his comrades slain, and the burdens of 
others heavy on his shoulders. 

What does he do — this hero in gray, with a heart 
of gold ? Does he sit down in suUenness and despair ? 

35 Not for a day. Surely God, who had stripped him of 
his prosperity, inspired him in his adversity. As ruin 
was never before so overwhelming, never was resto- 
ration swifter. The soldier stepped from the trenches 
into the furrows ; horses that had charged Federal guns 

40 marched before the plough ; and the fields that ran red 
with human blood in April were green with the harvest 
in June. From the ashes left us in 1 864 we have raised 
a brave and beautiful city ; somehow or other we have 
caught the sunshine in the bricks and mortar of our 

45 homes, and have builded therein not one ignoble 
prejudice or memory. 

In my native town of Athens is a monument that 
crowns its central hills — a plain, white shaft. Deep 
cut into its shining side is a name dear to me above the 

so names of men, that of a brave and simple man who 
died in a brave and simple faith. Not for all the glories 
of New England — from Plymouth Rock all the way 
— would I exchange the heritage he left me in his 
soldier's death. But, sir, speaking from the shadow of 

55 that memory, which I honor as I do nothing else on 
earth, I say that the cause in which he suffered and for 
which he gave his life was adjudged by higher and fuller 
wisdom than his or mine, and I am glad that the 
omniscient God held the balance of battle in His 

60 Almighty Hand, and that the American Union was 
saved from the wreck of war. 

Henry Woodfin Grady. (Abridged.) 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ 29 



442 TEACHING TO READ 

25. How is Mr. Grady's picture strengthened by 
the reference to Dr. Talmage's speech ? Do you find 
other examples of contrast in paragraph i I 

Pomp, brilliant display. 

Circumstance, the formality of any event. 

Think of him, etc. (Line 15). — Apply suggestions 
given under No. 8. 

^2. Express clearly the sharp contrasts in lines 35- 
43. How many do you find ^ 

From the ashes left us in 186^. — Sherman's devasta- 
tion. 

Referring to it directly, Mr. Grady began with this sentence : 
" I want to say to General Sherman — who is considered an 
able man in our parts, though some people think he is kind 
of careless about fire, that, from the ashes he left us . . ." 

^[3. In my native town. — Mr. Grady was born in 
Athens, Ga., in 185 1. 

A name dear to me. — Whose name do you infer it 
to be .? 

Why is Plymouth Rock one of the glories of New 
England } 

Before whom is Mr. Grady speaking .^ 

What might all the way include .^ 

Sir. — Whom does the speaker address .^ What eflPect 
is gained through the direct address .? 

Omniscient (6m nish'^nt), infinitely knowing or wise. 

Find an example in this selection of an effective use 
of series. Explain why it is effective. Of contrast. 
Of rhetorical interrogation. 

Select three portions of especial beauty. 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 

26. THE FACE AGAINST THE PANE 

1. Mabel, little Mabel, 

With face against the pane, 
Looks out across the night 
And sees the Beacon Light 

A-trembling in the rain. 
She hears the sea-birds screech. 
And the breakers on the beach 

Making moan, making moan. 
And the wind about the eaves 
Of the cottage sobs and grieves ; 

And the willow-tree is blown 

To and fro, to and fro, 
Till it seems like some old crone 
Standing out there all alone. 

With her woe ! 
Wringing, as she stands, 
Her gaunt and palsied hands. 
While Mabel, timid Mabel, 

With face against the pane. 
Looks out across the night, 
And sees the Beacon Light 

A-trembling in the rain. 

2. Set the table, maiden Mabel, 

And make the cabin warm ; 
Your little fisher-lover 

Is out there in the storm. 
And your father — you are weeping : 

O Mabel, timid Mabel, 

Go, spread the supper-table, 
And set the tea a-steeping. 
Your lover's heart is brave. 

His baat is stanch and tight ; 
And your father knows the perilous reef 

That makes the water white. 

— But Mabel, Mabel darKng, 



443 



444 " TEACHING TO READ 

With face against the pane, 
Looks out across the night 
At the Beacon in the rain. 

3. The heavens are veined with fire! 

And the thunder, how it rolls ! 
In the lullings of the storm 

The solemn church-bell tolls 

For lost souls ! 
But no sexton sounds the knell 

In that belfry old and high ; 
Unseen fingers sway the bell 

As the wind goes tearing by ! 
How it tolls for the souls 

Of the sailors on the sea ! 
God pity them, God pity them, 

Wherever they may be ! 
God pity wives and sweethearts 

Who wait and wait in vain ! 
And pity little Mabel, 

With face against the pane. 

4. A boom ! — the Lighthouse gun ! 

(How its echo rolls and rolls !) 
'T is to warn the home-bound ships 

Off the shoals ! 
See ! a rocket cleaves the sky 

From the Fort — a shaft of light ! 
See ! it fades, and, fading, leaves 

Golden furrows on the night ! 

5. What made Mabel's cheek so pale .? 

What made Mabel's lips so white .? 

Did she see the helpless sail 
That, tossing here and there, - 
Like a feather in the air. 

Went down and out of sight .? 

Down, down, and out of sight ! 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 445 

O, watch no more, no more, 

With face against the pane ; 
You cannot see the men that drown 

By the Beacon in the rain ! 

6. From a shoal of richest rubies 

Breaks the morning clear and cold, 
And the angel on the village spire, 

Frost-touched, is bright as gold. 

Four ancient fishermen. 

In the pleasant autumn air, 
Come toiling up the sands. 
With something in their hands. 
Two bodies stark and white. 
Ah, so ghastly in the hght. 

With sea-weed in their hair ! 

7. O ancient fishermen, 

Go up to yonder cot ! 
You'll find a little child. 
With face against the pane. 
Who looks toward the beach, 
And, looking, sees it not. 
She will never watch again ! 

Never watch and weep at night ! 
For those pretty, saintly eyes 
Look beyond the stormy skies. 
And they see the Beacon Light. 

Thomas Bailey Aldrich. 



26. Beacon Light, a signal light on rocks or shoals to warn 
of danger; not necessarily a lighthouse. 

Points to appreciate : 

The drowning of the fishermen is made sadder be- 
cause of the watching, waiting girl. 

Effects are not always gained through contrast as 



446 TEACHING TO READ 

in No. 22. This waiting girl is placed in an atmosphere 
of foreboding ; — the Beacon Light, the rain, the screech- 
ing of the seabirds, the moaning of the breakers, the 
sobbing and grieving of the wind, the sorrowful bending 
of the willow (the poetical symbol, among the trees, of 
grief), all prepare us to meet with sympathy the timid 
little girl with face against the pane. 

Stanza 2. But a cheerful contrasting picture, never- 
theless, is present. It is in the warm cabin, the spread 
table, the steeping tea which the little maiden should 
prepare ; and half chidingly, but wholly lovingly, we 
urge the little duties, and remind her of the experience 
of one and the bravery of both of those for whom she 
waits. But of little avail. The cheery words are far 
outweighed by the awful fear in her heart of the terrible 
storm without. Her father may know the perilous 
reef, and both may be brave, but she knows the sea, and 
she fears the sea, and in her fear* she forgets to cover her 
eyes from the flashing light, or to stop her ears against 
the rolling thunder. With face against the pane, she 
looks out across the night at the Beacon in the rain. 

Stanza 3 . Line i . — Can you see it .^ 

Line 2. — Can you hear it .? Can you imagine a 
storm so hard that the wind could move a church-bell } 
— Not to swing it back and forth joyfully, but enough 
to make the sides strike the clapper now and then. 
How ghostly it would sound in the lulls of a storm on a 
dark and awful night ! How suggestive of the deaths 
so probable on that wild and hungry sea ! God pity 
them ! — We are only human to let the cry escape us 
as we sense their danger. God pity wives and sweet- 
hearts. — Humanity is full of sympathy : God meant 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 447 

US to be so. And pity little Mabel. — She is our own 
particular friend. 

Stanza 4. The danger grows greater : the light- 
house gun is fired. That is to warn the homebound 
ships that might lose their bearings in the blackness of 
the night. In so great a storm, even the gun is not con- 
sidered sufficient and the rockets are brought into use, 
cleaving the sky far, far upward, and leaving golden 
furrows, whose beauty is almost forgotten in the horror 
of the condition that required their use. 

Unnoted was the beauty by Mabel. What she saw 
we can only guess. What she may have seen we after- 
wards learn. Courage and experience had meant 
nothing. How or why it happened, we do not know, 
but we do know that all watching thereafter was in 
vain ; and we know, from the closing stanza, that the 
timid heart could not and did not bear the sight. 

Stanza 6. Again we have a contrast. The storm is 
over; the ruin is wrought. Nature comes forth smil- 
ing — but cold. The poet could not introduce too 
rriuch of brightness, lest it mar the tragedy of the final 
scenes. Even the angel on the village spire is suggestive 
when we stop to think, for the warmth of the angel's 
brightness is cooled. 

Why do you think the poet chose old men to bear 
the bodies, and what do you think of the effectiveness 
of his manner of telHng us that the father and the little 
fisher-lover are dead .^ Does he say so .? Why do we 
know it .? How do we know that the child, also, is 
dead (stanza 7) .? 

Ancient, of persons, venerable ; hoary. 

What Beacon Light is referred to in the last stanza ? 



448 TEACHING TO READ 

27. THE VICTOR OF MARENGO 

Nappleon was sitting in his tent ; before him lay 
a map of Italy. He took four pins and stuck them 
up ; measured, moved the pins, and measured again. 
" Now," said he, " that is right ; I will capture him 

5 there ! " 

" Who, sir ? " said an officer. 

" Melas, the old fox of Austria. He will retire 
from Genoa, pass Turin, and fall back on Alexandria. 
I shall cross the Po, meet him on the plains of La- 

10 conia, and conquer him there," and the finger of the 
child of destiny pointed to Marengo. 

Two months later the memorable campaign of 1800 
began. The 20th of May saw Napoleon on the heights 
of St. Bernard. The 22d, Lannes, with the army of 

15 Genoa, held Padua. So far, all had been well with 
Napoleon. He had compelled the Austrians to take 
the position he desired ; reduced the army from one 
hundred and twenty thousand to forty thousand men ; 
dispatched Murat to the right, and June 14th moved 

20 forward to consummate his masterly plan. 

But God threatened to overthrow his scheme ! A 
little rain had fallen in the Alps, and the Po could not 
be crossed in time. The battle was begun. Mela's, 
pushed to the wall, resolved to cut his way out ; and 

25 Napoleon reached the field to see Lannes beaten, 
Champeaux dead, Desaix still charging old Melas, with 
his Austrian phalanx at Marengo, till the consular 
guard gave way, and the well-planned victory was 
a terrible defeat. 

30 Just as the day was lost, Desaix, the boy General, 
sweeping across the field at the head of his cavalry, 
halted on the eminence where stood Napoleon. There 
was in the corps a drummer-boy, a gamin whom 
Desaix had picked up in the streets of Paris. He had 

35 followed the victorious eagle of France in the cam- 
paigns of Egypt and Germany. As the columns 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 449 

halted, Napoleon shouted to him : " Beat a retreat ! " 
The boy did not stir. 
" Gamin, beat a retreat • " . 

40 The boy stopped, grasped his drumsticks, and said : 
"Sir, I do not know how to beat a retreat ; Desaix 
never taught me that ; but I can beat a charge, — oh ! 
I can beat a charge that will make the dead fall into 
line. I beat that charge at the Pyramids ; I beat that 

45 charge at Mount Tabor ; I beat it again at the bridge 
of Lodi. May I beat it here .? " . ,, 

Napoleon turned to Desaix, and said : " We are 
beaten ; what shall we do .? " 

" Do .? Beat them ! It is only three o'clock, and 

50 there is time to win a victory yet. Up ! the charge ! 
beat the old charge of Mount Tabor and Lodi ! " 

A moment later the corps, following the sword-gleam 
of Desaix, and keeping step with the furious roll of the 
gamin's drum, swept down on the host of Austrians. 

55 They drove the first line back on the second — both 
on the third, and there they died. Desaix fell at the 
first volley, but the fine never faltered, and as the 
smoke cleared away, the gamin was seen in front of his 
Hne marching right on, and still beating the furious 

60 charge. Over the dead and wounded, over breast- 
works and fallen foe, over cannon belching forth their 
fire of death, he led the way to victory, and the fifteen 
days in Italy were ended. 

To-day men point to Marengo in wonder. They 

65 admire the power and foresight that so skillfully 
handled the battle, but they forget that a general 
only thirty years of age made a victory of a defeat. 
They forget that a gamin of Paris put to shame " the 
child of destiny." ( 



27. The timely arrival of Desaix at the battle of 
Marengo is one of the most dramatic events in history. 



450 



TEACHING TO READ 



Marengo, the scene of the battle between the French, 
under Napoleon, and the Austrians, under Melas, in 1800. 




1 



Lines 1-6. Observe Napoleon's movements. His de- 
liberate exactness is shown in measured, moved the 
pins, and measured again: make the picture very clear 
for your hearers. 

The query of the officer shows that Napoleon had 
been working quietly by himself. 

Lines J-ii. The moving of large armies long dis- 
tances takes time. Napoleon reahzed this as he traced 
the movements of his enemies and then balanced them 
with his own plans. Keep the plans clear for your 
hearers. 

There (line 10). — Howdoyou Hkethe author's method 
of introducing the name of the great decisive battle .^ 
Melas crossed the short distance from Alexandria 
(Alessandria) to Marengo, March 14. 

The child of destiny. — A term applied to Napoleon. — 
Why .? Meaning of destiny ? 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 451 

Lines 12-24. S^- Bernard. — Napoleon had collected his 
army at Dijon in France. The Austrians would not believe 
that he intended to attempt the crossing of the Alps. The 
hazardous undertaking was accomplished in five days. 

The position he desired. — Marengo. 

How many men had the Austrians lost in the cam- 
paign ? (About 22,000 men were engaged on each side 
at Marengo.) 

Murat. — At the head of the French cavalry. With 
Lannes advancing from the direction of Padua, Napo- 
leon from St. Bernard, and Murat dispatched to the 
right, can you realize how Baron Melas might be pushed 
to the wall (line 24) } 

Lines 25-39. Lannes, Champeaux; French officers. 

Desaix, one of the most eminent generals of the French 
republic. He distinguished himself in the Campaign in Egypt 
(line 35) and for his good services had been made Commander 
of Upper Egypt. Returning therefrom he " found Napoleon 
marching to the conquest of Italy. With a small squadron 
he hastened to join the first consul, whom he overtook at 
Marengo. His timely arrival changed the fortune of the 
day ; but in the moment of victory he was killed. 

Consular guard. — Napoleon was not declared Emperor of 
the French until four years later. At this time the execu- 
tive power was vested in three consuls (elected for a term of 
ten years) of whom he was one, — the " first." 

Just as the day was lost (line 30). — Unlooked-for 
contrast with the expectation based upon Napoleon's 
careful plans and successive victories. 

The hoy General. — Desaix was now about thirty- 
two years of age. He was born in 1768. 

Halted (line 32). — Contrast the movement with 



452 TEACHING TO R^AD 

sweeping (line 31). Can you imagine the meeting be- 
tween Napoleon and the friend whom he had left in 
Egypt ? Never was timelier arrival. 

There was in the corps. — A new feature is introduced 
into the story. A gamin. — A street urchin, or street 
arab. In whose corps? 

Lines 40-46. Can you see the boy as he stopped with 
grasped drumsticks? What is his manner? — Is it un- 
certain .? Puzzled .^ Embarrassed .^ Protesting .? Do 
you think Desaix had purposely omitted to teach him 
that.? Why.? 

Napoleon would be on horseback; the boy afoot. 
Can you see Napoleon as the boy saw him .? In which 
direction will you look, — on a level, downward, or 
upward .? 

Mount Tabor, in Syria, where Napoleon defeated the 
Turks with great slaughter in the war between France and 
Turkey the year before. 

Lines 47-63. Contrast Napoleon's speech with the 
impetuous, earnest, and yet excited pleading of the 
boy. Does he seem to disregard the boy .? 

Who gives the command that wins the day, and 
whose sword-gleam is followed .? Who died? Whose 
corps (line 52) .? 

Who was the real leader after Desaix fell ? 

Study the series beginning with over (line 60). Is 
there a gradation in the ideas .? With which word is 
the climax reached .? Ans. Victory. 

Were ended. — It is said that the Austrians might have 
regained themselves, but in the swift onslaught, Melas " quite 
lost his head " and the following day " signed a convention 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 453 

28. THE EAGLE 

He clasps the crag with hooked hands : 
Close to the sun in lonely lands, 
Ring'd with the azure world, he stands. 

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls ; 
He watches from his mountain walls, 
And Hke a thunderbolt he falls. 

Alfred Tennyson. 



by which Austria sacrificed almost all of Northern Italy." 
Through the battle, " the Austrians lost all they had gained 
in eighteen months and by twenty victories." They had 
been very successful before Napoleon took command. 

What qualities of a good story does " The Victor of 
Marengo " possess .? 

28. Stanza i. Phrase correctly. Does in lonely 
lands locate the sun, or tell where he clasps the crag? 
Or where he stands? 

How could the eagle be ringd with the azure world? 

Stanza 2. Line i has been the subject of much 
criticism and comment ; some maintaining that the sea 
never appears thus, and others that they have seen it 
look just that way. Tennyson is invariably true to 
nature. Is he describing the sea as we might see it, 
or as it would appear from the eagle's crag close to the 
sun? If the latter, how might even a billowy sea look 
from that height ? 

FeeKng the meanings of some words tone-colors our 
manner of saying them. Are there any words of that 
kind in this stanza ? How about crawls and thunder- 
holt? 



454 * TEACHING TO READ 



'^ 



29. THE MAYFLOWER 

From an Oration on the First Settlement of New England, 
delivered at Plymouth, December 22, 182/].. 

^ Methinks I see it now, that one solitary, adven- 
turous vessel, the Mayflower of a forlorn hope, freighted 
with the prospects of a future State, and bound across 
the unknown sea. ^ I behold it pursuing, with a 
thousand misgivings, the uncertain, the tedious voyage. 
^ Suns rise and set, and weeks and months pass, and 
winter surprises them on the deep, but brings them not 
the sight of the wished-for shore. ^ I see them now, 
scantily supplied with provisions, crowded almost to 
suffocation in their ill-stored prison, delayed by calms, 
pursuing a circuitous route ; and now, driven in fury 
before the raging tempest, in their scarcely seaworthy 
vessel. ^ The awful voice of the storm howls through 
the rigging. ^ The laboring masts seem straining from 
their base ; the dismal sound of the pumps is heard ; 
the ship leaps, as it were, madly from billow to billow ; 
the ocean breaks, and settles with ingulfing floods over 
the floating deck, and beats with deadening weight 
against the staggering vessel. 

^ I see them escaped from these perils, pursuing their 
all but desperate undertaking, and landed at last, 
after a five months' passage, on the ice-clad rocks of 
Plymouth, weak and exhausted from the voyage, 
poorly armed, scantily provisioned, depending on the 
charity of their shipmaster for a draught of beer on 
board, drinking nothing but water on shore, without 
shelter, without means, surrounded by hostile tribes. 

^ Shut now the volume of history, and tell me, on any 
principle of human probability, what shall be the fate 
of this handful of adventurers .? ^ Tell me, man of 
military science, in how many months they were all 
swept off^ by the thirty savage tribes enumerated within 
the boundaries of New England ,^ ^ Tell me, politician, 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 455 

how long did this shadow of a colony, on which your 
conventions and treaties had not smiled, languish on 
the distant coast? ^Student of history, compare for 
me the baffled projects, the deserted settlements, the 
abandoned adventurers of other times; and find the 
parallel of this. ^ Was it the winter storm, beating upon 
the houseless heads of women and children ? was it 
hard labor and spare meals ? was it disease ? was it 
the tomahawk ? was it the deep malady of a blighted 
hope, a ruined enterprise, and a broken heart, aching 
in its last moments at the recollections of the loved and 
left, beyond the sea ? was it some or all of them united 
that hurried this forsaken company to their melan- 
choly fate ? ^ And is it possible that neither of these 
causes, that not all combined, were able to blast this 
bud of hope ? ^ Is it possible that from a beginning 
so feeble, so frail, so worthy, not so. much of admiration 
as of pity, there has gone forth a progress so steady, 
a growth so wonderful, a reality so important, a promise 
yet to be fulfilled so glorious ? E,,^^^ Everett. 



29. Exercise continually the habit of grasping all 
the thoughts with which words come laden. Why one 
solitary ? Why adventurous ? Why of a forlorn hope ? 
Why freighted? 

Prospects, grounds for hope or expectation. 

Why a thousand misgivings ? Why uncertain ? Why 
tedious? 

What example of gradation do you find in 1[i .? 

Sentences 5-7 of ^[3 present not only some very 
vivid pictures, but also an interesting study in interro- 
gation. Was it (sentence 5) how many things .? That 
did what .? 

What was the motive in asking these questions ? 



456 TEACHING TO READ 

30. THE AMERICAN FLAG 

Stanza i. 

When Freedom from her mountain height 

Unfurled her standard in the air, 
She tore the azure robe of night, 
And set the stars of glory there. 
5 She mingled with its gorgeous dyes 
The milky baldric of the skies. 
And striped its pure celestial white 
With streakings of the morning light ; 
Then, from his mansion in the sun, 
10 She called her eagle bearer down. 
And gave into his mighty hand 
The symbol of her chosen land. 

Joseph Rodman Drake. 

30. More figurative language. Compare No. 13. 

Line i. Would a less exalted idea of Freedom or a 
less elevated position have been in harmony with the 
imaginative ideas in the succeeding lines ? 

Line 2. Unfurled. — A word that suggests both open- 
ing and spreading something large to the wind, as a flag 
or a sail. 

Standard. — See title, " The American Flag." 

Line 3 . Could this azure robe of night come from the 
same kind of night as the one that threw her silver 
mantle o'er the dark in No. 17 .^ 

Line 4. There. — Where ? 

Glory, distinction accorded by common consent to a person 
or thing. 

Line 5. Its. — Whose .^ (Of the azure robe of night 
or of the standard?) Meaning of dyes? 
Gorgeous, showy ; resplendent ; very bright. 



CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION 457 

Line 6. Milky baldric (belt) — the Milky Way. 

Is the poet here using for his comparison the stars 
of the Milk}^ Way, or the long, white, luminous effect 
produced by the multitude of stars ? Does he refer 
to the stars of the flag or to the white bars ? 

Line 7. To what does its refer — to the standard, 
the azure robe of night, or the 7nilky baldric? 

Line 8. To which color does this refer ? 

Line 9. How do you like the figurative language ? 
We cannot apply cold logic to such expressions. They 
will not stand the test. Still we have no quarrel with 
the poet. We sense the meaning clearly and pay our 
tribute to the beauty in which his thought is clothed. 
In this particular instance, the poet is but carrying out 
the proportions of the picture as he began it. Free- 
dom, on the mountain height, must find her eagle 
proportionately above her. 

Symbol (line 12). — See standard, Ym^ 2, and also 
" The American Flag," title. 

Memorize. 

The broad appeal that literature makes to the 
imagination may be seen in the following list : 

Chap. I. Nos. 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, etc. 

Chap. II. Nos. 7, 16, 17, 18, 29, 30, 31, 34, 38, etc. 

Chap. III. Nos. 10, 17, 18, 20, 21, 24, 25, 29, etc. 

Chap. IV. Nos. 6, 7, 14, 17, 20, 22, 24, 25, 26, etc. 

Chap. v. Nos. 12, 17, 22, 24, 25, 29, 31, 32, 33, etc. 

Chap. VI. Nos. 14, 16, 20, 25, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, etc. 

Chap. VII. Nos. 29, 30, 48, 50, 51, 54, 55, 56, 57, etc. 

Chap. VIII. Nos. 13, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25. 

Chap. IX. Nos. 14, 16, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24. 

Chap. X. Nqs. 4, 5, 6, 7, II, 12, 13, 15, 17, 18, etc. 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ 30 



458 TEACHING TO READ 

Chap. XL (Part I) Nos. II, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 23, etc. 

(Part II) Nos. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 17, 18, 20, etc. 

(Part III) Nos. i, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, etc. 
Chap. XII. Nos. I, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, II, 12, 13, 14, 15, etc. 
Chap. XIII. Nos. 6, 8, 12, 14, 16, 18, 19, 20. 
Chap. XIV. Nos. 16, 17, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, etc. 

Suggestive Questions for Written Review 

1. (No. 2.) Which words appeal to the imagination 
through the sight ? Through the hearing ^ The feel- 
ings .? 

2. (No. 14.) Describe a picture that would illustrate 
line I, stanza i. 

3. The same, line 2. 

4. The same, line 3. 

5. The same, line 4. 

6. (Nos. 14-17.) Which description do you consider 
the finest .? Give your reasons for so deciding. 

7. (No. 23.) What was the secret of the artist's 
success ^ 

8. (No. 27.) What qualities of a good story does 
" The Victor of Marengo " possess ^ 

9. (No. 28.) How could an eagle be ringed with the 
" azure world " .^ 

Explain why the expressions wrinkled sea and crawls 
may be permissible. 

10. (No. 30.) Explain the meaning of lines 5 and 6; 
lines 7 and 8. 

Why is the Eagle's mansion placed in the sun? 



CHAPTER XVI 

STUDIES IN INTERPRETING THE SPIRIT 
OF THE SELECTION 

It is not enough that the reader present the thought 
of the selection, in a large variety of reading matter ; 
he must present also the spirit of the selection. 

Considerable work has already been done along this 
line in preceding chapters. Many selections have con- 
tained dialogue and conversation, and although they 
were being considered at the time from other viewpoints, 
the reader has been urged to present conversation 
"naturally," — that is, to try to understand just how 
the speakers would feel; to try to feel as they felt; 
and to speak as they spoke. The emotional motives 
behind Exclamations and behind many Interrogations 
have been studied and interpreted. Contrasts in emo- 
tions have been presented, and Quick Changes in emo- 
tions, and many of the studies in Quotations contained 
spirited parts. The Imagination has painted pictures 
that have stirred the emotions ; Gradations in emotions 
have been felt ; and stanza after stanza of poetry has 
been studied in the effort to catch the spirit of each 
refrain, — for while a large part of our reading matter 
appeals to the intellectual powers, an equally large 
part appeals to the emotional nature. 

The spirit in which a part is to be read is often 

459 



460 ■ TEACHING TO READ 

plainly indicated by the author in the context (see 
Nos. 4, 6, 7) ; and sometimes it must be gleaned from 
the thought (i, 2). Sometimes it appears in single 
words (8) ; often it changes from clause to clause (9) ; 
and sometimes it becomes the " atmosphere " of an 
entire selection (18, 20). No selection of any length 
is uniformly in but one spirit. 

Pedagogical Introduction 

Chapter XVI deals particularly with the develop- 
ment of the emotional nature. Its aim is to lead the 
pupils to feel, and to express what they feel. We 
never know what a pupil is capable of, along this line, 
until we test him and train him. There is no normal 
boy or girl whose feelings cannot be touched along some 
line. But a pupil who responds admirably to a serious 
sentiment may require long stimulation before he will 
loose the rein to jollity or enthusiasm. Another will 
love the cheerful things, and shrink from the sad. 
Some will appear to shrink from everything. The 
cause may be diffidence, self-consciousness, embarrass- 
ment, fear, — all of which are foes to abandon. 

Here again the teacher must be the leader. She 
must be able, through her abihty to appeal to the imagi- 
nation, to throw about the class the " atmosphere " 
of the selection. She must be able to read facial expres- 
sion, and to gauge the moment to call for utterance. 

It has been said that what we need to-day is teachers 
who are themselves lovers of the beautiful, the subhme, 
the tender ; but what we need is teachers who not only 
love such things, but who also know how to express 



THE SPIRIT OF THE SELECTION 461 

that love (either through reading or conversation) 
in such a way that the sentiment will grow in the hearts 
of their pupils until they, in turn, become wiUing, — 
nay, anxious, — to express it to others. 

" I can't read, 

' RolHcking robin is here again,' " 
says a teacher; "I don't feel hke it." For shame! 
Then you are too serious to reign in the schoolroom. 
Take a Saturday off, and smile ! Say rollicking, rollick- 
ing, rollicking, over and over again, till a laugh leaks 
down to your drying heart, and the spirit of spring starts 
again. Will it pay .? Try, and see. — Then smile it 
down into the eyes of your class and watch the same 
spirit take hfe in their faces. 

If a pupil is timid and shrinking, do not ask for more 
than a line, or a sentence, or, maybe, a clause, — or 
a word. And do not ask for that until the spirit of the 
passage has been coaxed to his face, — then praise the 
least effort (with a word), — and have him try it again 1 

— and maybe again, before the aroused spirit has time 
to abate. 

An important need in the teaching of emotional 
selections is that both the teacher and the class shall 
be responsive to the mood of the thought and the reader. 
How patriotic, how sad, how happy, how sympa- 
thetic, how sorry, how jolly can I make the class feel, 

— is the problem for the reader. How patriotic, how 
sad, how happy, how sorry did he make you feel, — 
is the question for the class. 

Train pupils to recognize the spirit behind a sentence 
or selection ; and see to it that they have the necessary 
vocabulary for expressing the various emotions. 



462 TEACHING TO READ 

Exercises in which the same expression is used to 
convey a variety of impressions will be most helpful in 
developing spirited expression. In her " Advanced 
Elocution," Mrs. Shoemaker suggests that well and 
no be read to express the following ideas : 

Question 
Negation 
Positive Negation 
Angry Negation 



WelH 



Question 
Consent 
Doubt 
Sarcasm 



Completeness ^ Uncertainty 



. Something to be added 



Surprise 
Sarcasm 
Qualification 



Many exercises along this line can be invented. 
For example : 

Good morning may be read pleasantly, gruffly, brightly, 
sadly, laughingly, gravely, formally, indifferently, 
coldly, angrily, surprisedly, etc. 

The expression. Have you finished the work, may be 
read as a simple question, or we can put into it surprise, 
indignation, impatience, anger, severity, astonishment, 
formality, coldness, pleasantness, brightness, sym- 
pathy, gruffness, haste, etc. 

The expression, / am the king, may be given in re- 
sponse to a variety of conditions and moods, as the fol- 
lowing will show : 

Provocative expressions. Replies. 

Are you the king ? [Simple query.] I am the king. 

Are you the king? [I am surprised.] I am the king. 

Are you the king ? [I cannot believe it.] I am the king. 

Are you the king ? [Tauntingly.] I am the king. 

You are not the king. [Positively.] I am the king. 

You are not the king. [More positively.] I am the king. 

You are not the king. [Teasingly.] I am the king. 



THE SPIRIT OF THE SELECTION 463 

SELECTIONS AND SUGGESTIVE STUDIES 

1. He laughed till the tears ran down his face. 

2. She buried her face in her mother's lap and sobbed. 

3. The wicked flee when no man pursueth ; but the 
righteous are bold as a lion. 

4. " In two days/' Cromwell said coolly, " the city 
will be in our hands." 

5. " The Indians," said Braddock, " may frighten 
continental troops, but they can make no impression on 
the king's regulars." 

6. " Have you read to-day's papers ^ " she asked 
indifferently. And he replied quite as indifferently, 
" I have looked them over." 

7. There dwelt a miller, hale and bold, 

Beside the river Dee ; 
He worked and sang from morn till night. 

No lark more blithe than he. 
And this the burden of his song 

I, 2. Enter appreciatively into the sentiment. 
Note the contrast between the two selections. 

3. Imagine how one stands, and feels, and looks, and 
talks when he is bold as a lion. 

4. The speaker is sure of his statement. 

5. Pride. 

7. Lightness and brightness balanced with gravity 
in both description and conversation. 



464 TEACHING TO READ 

Forever used to be, — 
" I envy nobody, no, not I, 
And nobody envies me ! " 

" Thou'rt wrong, my friend ! " said old King Hal, 

"As wrong as wrong can be; 
For could my heart be light as thine, 

I'd gladly change with thee. 
And tell me now what makes thee sing 

With voice so loud and free. 
While I am sad, though I'm the king, 

Beside the river Dee ? " 

The Miller of the Dee — Isaac Bickerstaff and Charles Mackay. 

8. ^ The similarity of motion in families is another 
subject well worth the consideration of the naturalist : 
the soaring of the birds of prey, — the floating of the 
swallows, with their short cuts and angular turns, — 
the hopping of the sparrows, — the deliberate walk of 
the hens and the strut of the cocks, — the waddle of the 
ducks and geese, — the slow, heavy creeping of the 
land turtle, — the graceful flight of the sea turtle under 
the water, — the leaping and swimming of the frog, — 
the swift run of the lizard, like a flash of green or red 
light in the sunshine, — the dart of the pickerel, — 
the leap of the trout, — the fluttering flight of the 

8. A selection that is full of expressive words ; that 
is, words vividly representing the meaning or the 
feeling meant to be conveyed. 

Think of the meaning of these words as you utter 
them : soaring, floating, deliberate walk, strut, waddle, 
slow, heavy, creeping, graceful flight, leaping, swift run, 
dart, leap, quivering, slow crawling, etc. Imagine each 
movement until the idea colors the utterance. 

(The list may be placed on the blackboard for class drill.) 



THE SPIRIT OF THE SELECTION 465 

butterfly, — the quivering poise of the humming bird, 
— the slow crawhng of the snail, — the sideway move- 
ment of the sand crab, — the backward walk of the 
crawfish, — the almost imperceptible gliding of the 
sea anemone over the rock. ^ In short, every family 
of animals has its characteristic action. 

Methods of Study in Natural History — Louis Agassiz. (Abridged.) 

9. Good name in man and woman, dear rriy lord, 
Is the immediate jewel of their souls. 

Who steals my purse steals trash ; 't is something, 

nothing ; 
'T was mine, 't is his, and has been slave to 

thousands ; 
^ But he that filches from me my good name 
Robs me of that which not enriches him 
And makes me poor indeed. 

Othello. Act III. Scene III — William Shakespeare. 

10. From the workshop of the Golden Key, there 
issued forth a tinkling sound, so merry and good- 
humored, that it suggested the idea of some one work- 
ing blithely, and made quite pleasant music. . . . 
Tink, tink, tink, — clear as a silver bell, and audible 

For further exercises of this variety, see : 
Chap. VII. No. 48. 
Chap. XIV. Nos. 17, 19, 21, 22. 
Chap. XV. Nos. 1-3, ID, 12, 14, 20, 22, 26, 29. 

9. Lines i, 2, earnestness; 3, 4, indifference; 5-7, 
seriousness. 

Memorize. 

10. Cheerfulness. 

If I. Study tinkling; merry; good-humored; blithely; 
tink, tink, tink. 



466 TEACHING TO READ 

at every pause of the street's harsher noises, as though 
it said, " I don't care ; nothing puts me out ; I am 
resolved to be happy." 

Women scolded, children squalled, heavy carts went 
rumbling by, horrible cries proceeded from the lungs 
of hawkers ; still it struck in again, no higher, no 
lower, no louder, no softer; not thrusting itself on 
people's notice a bit the more for having been outdone 
by louder sounds, — ■ tink, tink, tink, tink, tink. 

It was a perfect embodiment of the still small voice, 
free from all cold, hoarseness, huskiness, or unhealthi- 
ness of any kind. Foot passengers slackened their 
pace, and were disposed to linger near it ; neighbors 
who had got up splenetic that morning, felt good- 
humor stealing on them as they heard it, and by degrees 
became quite sprightly; mothers danced their babies 
to its ringing ; still the same magical tink, tink, tink, 
came gayly from the workshop of the Golden Key. 

^ Who but the locksmith could have made such 
music ^ ^ A gleam of sun shining through the un- 
sashed window, and chequering the dark workshop with 
a broad patch of light, fell full upon him, as though 
attracted by his sunny heart. ^ There he stood work- 
ing at his anvil, his face all radiant with exercise and 
gladness, his sleeves turned up, his wig pushed off his 
shining forehead — the easiest, freest, happiest man in 
all the world. Bamahy Rudge — Charles Dickens. 



T[2. Study scolded; squalled; rumbling; tink, tink. 

^4. Sentence 3. Do you like that man ? Would 
you like to know him ? — To work with him '^. Do you 
feel acquainted with him .? 

Make the spirit of the pictures so plain that your 
hearers not only see the pictures but catch the cheer- 
fulness. 



THE SPIRIT OF THE SELECTION 467 

11. Hurrah ! hurrah for Sheridan ! 
Hurrah ! hurrah for horse and man ! 

And when their statues are placed on high, 
Under the dome of the Union sky, 
5 The American soldiers' Temple of Fame, 
There with the glorious general's name. 
Be it said, in letters both bold and bright, 
" Here is the steed that saved the day, 
By carrying Sheridan into the fight, 
10 From Winchester, twenty miles away I " 
Sheridan's Ride — Thomas Buchanan Read. 

12. " What is this that ye do, my children ? what 

madness has seized you ? 

Forty years of my hfe have I labored among you, 
and taught you. 

Not in word alone, but in deed, to love one an- 
other ! ••11 

Is this the fruit of my toils, of my vigils and 
prayers and privations ? 



11. Enthusiasm. 

What relation does Hne 5 bear to Kne 4 .? 

Be it said — where (hne 7) ? 

In 1864, Sheridan and Early were fighting in the Shenan- 
doah Valley and Sheridan was winning. But during an ab- 
sence of Sheridan from his army, Early unexpectedly fell upon 
it and surprised it into a panic-stricken retreat. Sheridan 
was at Winchester, — twenty miles away, but he could hear 
the cannon with their " terrible grumble, and rumble, and 
roar," and mounting his horse, he raced the twenty miles to 
the scene of the disaster. A great cheer greeted him as he 
came in sight of the fleeing cavalry. " We must face the 
other way," he shouted ; — and they did ; — and won. 

12. Seriousness. 



468 ' TEACHING TO READ 

5 Have you so soon forgotten all lessons of love 
and forgiveness ? 
This is the house of the Prince of Peace, and 

would you profane it 
Thus with violent deeds and hearts overflowing 
with hatred ? 
. Lo ! where the crucified Christ from his cross is 
gazing upon you ! 
See ! in those sorrowful eyes what meekness and 
holy compassion ! 
10 Hark ! how those lips still repeat the prayer, 
* O Father, forgive them ! ' 
Let us repeat that prayer in the hour when the 

wicked assail us, 
Let us repeat it now, and say, ' O Father, forgive 
them ! '" 

Evangeline — Henry Wads worth Longfellow. 



The Acadians, summoned to the church to learn the will 
of their monarch, found themselves prisoners. They stood 
silent a moment in speechless wonder and then madly rushed 
to the doorway. 

" Vain was the hope of escape ; and cries and fierce impre- 
cations 
Rang through the house of prayer." 

Basil, the blacksmith, who shouted : " Down with the 
tyrants of England ! " and, " Death to these foreign soldiers ! " 
was dragged to the pavement. It was " In the midst of the 
strife and tumult of angry contention," that Father Felician, 

" Entered, with serious mien, and ascended the steps of the 
altar. 
Raising his reverend hand, with a gesture he awed into 

silence 
All that clamorous throng; and thus he spake to his 
people ; 



THE SPIRIT OF THE SELECTION 469 

13. Rollicking Robin is here again; 
What does he care for the April rain ? 
Care for it ? Glad of it. Doesn't he know 
That the April rain carries off the snow, 

5 And coaxes out leaves to shadow his nest, 
And washes his pretty red Easter vest, 
And makes the juice of the cherry sweet, 
For the hungry little robins to eat ? 
" Ha, ha, ha ! '' hear the jolly bird laugh, 
10 "That isn't the best of the story by half." 

Sir Robin — Lucy Larcom. 

14. ^ Gently, silently, the love of a great people bore 
the pale sufferer to the longed-for heahng of the sea, to 
live or to die, as God should will, within sight of its 
heaving billows, within sound of its manifold voices. 
^ With wan, fevered face tenderly lifted to the cooling 
breeze, he looked out wistfully upon the ocean's chang- 
ing wonders ; on its fair sails, whitening in the morning 



Deep were his tones and solemn ; in accents measured 
and mournful." 

13. Jollity. 

Rollicking, moving or playing in a gay, careless, merry 
manner. 

What is the motive behind each question I To what 
statement is each equivalent ^ 

Line 10. The story of what ^ 

How many things are not the best of the story by half ? 
What are they ? 

Read the story so that your hearers will wish to know 
the other half. 

14. Sympathy. 

Gently is a hard word to say gently. 



470 TEACHING TO READ 

light ; on its restless waves, rolling shoreward to break 
and die beneath the noonday sun ; on the red clouds 
of evening arching low to the horizon ; on the serene and 
shining pathway to the stars. ^ Let us think that his 
dying eyes read a mystic meaning which only the rapt 
and parting soul may know. ^ Let us believe that in 
the silence of the receding world he heard the great 
waves breaking on a further shore, and felt already upon 
his wasted brow the breath of the eternal morning. 

Eulogy of Garfield — James Gillespie Blaine. 

15. Little Nell was dead. No sleep so beautiful 
and calm, so free from trace of pain, so fair to look 
upon. She seemed a creature fresh from the hand of 
God, and waiting for the breath of life ; not one who 
had lived and suffered death. . . . 

She was dead, and past all help, or need of it. The 
ancient rooms she had seemed to fill with life, even 
while her own was waning fast, — the garden she had 
tended, — the eyes she had gladdened, — the noiseless 
haunts of, many a thoughtful hour, — the paths she 
had trodden as it were but yesterday, — could know her 
never more. qi^ Curiosity Shop — Charles Dickens. 



Why wistfully (sentence 2) .? 

What is a mystic meaning (sentence 3) ? What 
mystic meaning might be read in each of the things 
mentioned in sentence 2 .^ 

To what further shore (sentence 4) does the author 
allude .^ 

What is the meaning of eternal morning? 

15. Sadness, with beauty. 

1[i. Do not miss the balance between dead and sleep 
(line i). Seemed — not really was. 



THE SPIRIT OF THE SELECTION 471 

16. The golden ripple on the wall came back again, 
and nothing else stirred in the room. The old, old 
fashion ! The fashion that came in with our first 
garments, and will last unchanged until our race has 
run its course, and the wide firmament is rolled up like 
a scroll. The old, old fashion, — Death ! 

Oh, thank God, all who see it, for that older fashion 
yet, of Immortality ! And look upon us, angels of 
young children, with regards not quite estranged, when 
the swift river bears us to the ocean ! 

Domhey and Son — Charles Dickens. 

17. It sounds to hirn like her mother's voice, 

Singing in Paradise ! 
He needs must think of her once more, 

How in the grave she lies ; 
And with his hard, rough hand he wipes 

A tear out of his eyes. 

The Village Blacksmith — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 



Not. — Observe the contrast. 

1[2. Consider the wide variation in the retrospective 
thought of the parts of the series. 

Haunt, the place to which one often resorts. 

16. The solemnity of death. — The death of little 
Paul. 

Can you feel the hush pervading the scene } 
' Note the poetic melody of the long open vowels. 

Regards, affections. Estranged, diverted; withdrawn. 

To what swift river does the writer refer ^ 

17. Reverie. 

Wherein lies its beauty } Its power to touch hearts .? 



472 TEACHING TO READ 

l8. THE VOICE OF SPRING 

I come, I come ! ye have called me long — 
I come o'er the mountains with light and song! 
Ye may trace my steps o'er the wakening earth 
By the winds which tell of the violet's birth, 
By the primrose stars in the shadowy grass, 
By the green leaves opening as I pass. 

I have looked o'er the hills of the stormy North, 

And the larch has hung all his tassels forth. 

The fisher is out on the sunny sea, 

And the reindeer bounds o'er the pastures free. 

And the pine has a fringe of softer green. 

And the moss looks bright where my step hath been. 

I have sent through the wood paths a glowing sigh. 
And called out each voice of the deep blue sky, — 
From the night bird's lay through the starry time, 
In the groves of the soft Hesperian clime, 
To the swan's wild note by the Iceland lakes. 
When the dark fir branch into verdure breaks. 

From the streams and founts I have loosed the chain. 
They are sweeping on to the silvery main, 
They are flashing down from the mountain brows. 
They are flinging spray o'er the forest boughs. 
They are bursting fresh from their sparry caves. 
And the earth resounds with the joy of waves ! 

Come forth, O ye children of gladness ! come ! 
Where the violets lie may be now your home. 
Ye of the rose-lip and dew-bright eye. 
And the bounding footstep to meet me fly. 
With the lyre, and the wreath, and the joyous lay. 
Come forth to the sunshine, — I may not stay. 

Felicia Hemans. (Abridged.) 



THE SPIRIT OF THE SELECTION 473 

19. THE RAINY DAY 

The day is cold, and dark, and dreary; 
It rains, and the wind is never weary ; 
The vine still clings to the mouldering wall, 
But at every gust the dead leaves fall. 
And the day is dark and dreary. 

My Hfe is cold, and dark, and dreary ; 
It rains, and the wind is never weary ; 
My thoughts still chng to the mouldering Past, 
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast, 
And the days are dark and dreary. 

Be still, sad heart ! and cease repining ; 
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining ; 
Thy fate is the common fate of all, 
Into each life some rain must fall, 
Some days must be dark and dreary. 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 



18. Joy. 

Hear the music in the hnes and in the words them- 
selves ; see the beauty in the personification and in 
such expressions as primrose stars, shadowy grass, 
leaves opening as I pass, sunny sea, reindeer hounds, 
pastures free, fringe, softer green, founts (Do you like it 
better than fountains, even if the meter would allow 
the latter ?), etc. 

Hesperian (hes pe'ri ^n), pertaining to Hesperia, a name 
given by poets to both Italy and Spain. 

19. Sadness and consolation. Trace the balanced 
portions between stanzas i and 2. 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ 3 1 



474 TEACHING TO READ 



20. THE THROSTLE 



" Summer is coming, summer is coming. 

I know it, I know it, I know it. 
Light again, leaf again, life again, love again," 

Yes, my wild little Poet. 

Sing the new year in under the blue. 

Last year you sang it as gladly. 
" New, new, new, new ! " Is it then so new 

That you should carol so madly .? 

" Love again, song again, nest again, young again,' 

Never a prophet so crazy ! 
And hardly a daisy as yet, Httle friend, 

See, there is hardly a daisy. 

" Here again, here, here, here, happy year ! " 

O warble unchidden, unbidden ! 
Summer is coming, is coming, my dear, 

And all the winters are hidden. 

Alfred Tennyson. 



20. A gem of happy abandon. 

During 1 888-1 889 Mr. Tennyson had a severe attack of 
rheumatism, and we read : " Throughout the winter he fed 
the thrushes and other birds as usual out of his window. To- 
wards the end of the month of February he sat in his kitchen- 
garden summerhouse, listening attentively to the different 
notes of the thrush, and finishing his song of " The Throstle," 
which he had begun in the same garden (Farringford) years 
ago." He was almost eighty years of age. 

The throstle, or European song thrush, is the English 
prophet of summer. 

21. Earnestness; patriotism. 



THE SPIRIT OF THE SELECTION 475 

21. PATRIOTISM 
From The Lay of the Last Minstrel. Canto VL 

Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, 

Who never to himself hath said. 
This is my own, my native land ? 

Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned, 
5 As home his footsteps he hath turned 
From wandering on a foreign strand ? 

If such there breathe, go, mark him well ; 

For him no minstrel raptures swell ; 

High though his titles, proud his name, 
10 Boundless his wealth as wish can claim, — 

Despite those titles, power, and pelf. 

The wretch, concentered all in self. 

Living, shall forfeit fair renown, 

And, doubly dying, shall go down 
IS To the vile dust, from whence he sprung. 

Unwept, unhonored, and unsung. 

Sir Walter Scott. 



Lines 1-6. Phrase correctly. Not, Breathes there the 
maTiy with soul so dead, but. Breathes there a particular 
kind of a man, — a man who meets two conditions. 

Line 7. Such. — What kind .? Why If? 

Minstrel, one of an order of men in the Middle Ages who 
subsisted by the arts of poetry and music, and sang to the 
harp verses composed by themselves or others. They were 
either regular members of a household, providing entertain- 
ment and rehearsing the achievements of their lords, or 
wanderers from hall to hall. 

Pelf, wealth ; — often with the idea of worthless. 

Why would no minstrel sing of such a man } 



476 TEACHING TO READ 

22. JEAN VALJEAN AND THE BISHOP 

From Les Mise rabies. 

The door was thrown open wide. A man entered 
and stopped, leaving the door open behind him. He 
had his knapsack on his shoulder, his stick in his hand, 
and a rough, bold, wearied, and violent expression in 
his eyes. The firehght fell on him; he was hideous; 
it was a sinister apparition. 

The bishop fixed a quiet eye on the man, as he opened 
his mouth, doubtless to ask the newcomer what he 
wanted. The man leant both his hands on his stick, 
and, not waiting for the bishop to speak, said in a loud 
voice, 

" My name is Jean Valjean. I am a galley slave, and 
have spent nineteen years in the bagne. I was lib- 
erated four days ago, and started for Pontarlier, which 
is my destination. I have been walking for four days 
since I left Toulon, and to-day I have marched twelve 
leagues. This evening on coming into the town I went 
to the inn, but was sent away in consequence of my 
yellow passport, which I had shown at the police office. 
I went to another inn, and the landlord said to me, 
Be off. It was the same everywhere, and no one would 
have any dealings with me. I went to the prison", but 
the jailer would not take me in. I got into a dog's 
kennel, but the dog bit me and drove me off, as if it 
had been a man ; it seemed to know who I was. I 

Lines 9, 10. Series. Trace the separate items men- 
tioned in line 11, in lines 9 and 10. 

Lines 13, 14. Doubly dying. — Passing out of the 
world and out of the memory of the people. 

Shall go down, — - where .^ How;? 

Memorize. 



THE SPIRIT OF THE SELECTION 477 

went into the fields to sleep in the starlight, but there 
were no stars. I thought it would rain, and as there 
was no God to prevent it from raining, I came back to 
the town to sleep in a doorway. I was lying down on 
a stone in the square, when a good woman pointed to 
your house and said. Go and knock there. What sort 
of a house is this ? Do you keep an inn .? I have money, 
100 francs 15 sous, which I earned at the bagne by my 
nineteen years' toil. I will pay, for what do I care 
for that, as I have money ! I am very tired and fright- 
fully hungry ; will you let me stay here .? " 

"Madame Magloire," said the bishop, "you will 
lay another knife and fork." 

The man advanced three paces, and approached the 
lamp which was on the table. " Wait a minute," 
he continued, as if he had not comprehended, " that 
will not do. Did you not hear me say that I was a 
galley slave, a convict, and have just come from the 
bagne ? " He took from his pocket a large yellow 
paper, which he unfolded. " Here is my passport, 
yellow, as you see, which turns me out wherever I go. 
Will you read it .? I can read it, for I learned to do so 
at the bagne, where there is a school for those who 
like to attend it. This is what is written in my pass- 
port : * Jean Valjean, a Hberated convict, native of ' — 
but that does not concern you — ' has remained nineteen 
years at the galleys. Five years for robbery • with 
house-breaking, fourteen years for having tried to 
escape four times. The man is very dangerous.' 
All the world had turned me out, and are you willing 
to receive me .? Is this an inn .? Will you give me some 
food and a bed ? Have vou a stable ? " 

" Madame Magloire," said the bishop, " you will 
put clean sheets on the bed in the alcove." 

The bishop turned to the man. " Sit down and warm 
yourself, sir ? We shall sup directly, and your bed will 
be got ready while we are supping." 

The man understood this at once. The expression 



478 TEACHING TO READ 

of his face, which had hitherto been gloomy and harsh, 
was marked with stupefaction, joy, doubt, and became 
extraordinary. He began stammering hke a lunatic. 

" Is it true ? what ? You will let me stay, you will 
not drive me out, a convict ? You call me Sir, you do 
not * thou ' me. 'Get out, dog;' that is what is 
always said to me; I really believed you would turn 
me out, and hence told you at once who I am ! Oh 
what a worthy woman she was who sent me here ! I 
shall have supper, a bed with mattress and sheets, 
like everybody else ! For nineteen years I have not 
slept in a bed ! You really mean that I am to stay. 
You are worthy people ; besides, I have money and 
will pay handsomely. By the way, what is your name, 
Mr. Landlord ^ I will pay anything you please, for 
you are a worthy man. You keep an inn, do you not ^ " 

" I am," said the bishop, " a priest living in this 
house." 

" A priest ! " the man continued. While speaking, 
he deposited his knapsack and stick in a corner, re- 
turned his passport to his pocket, and sat down. 
" You are humane, sir, and do not feel contempt. A 
good priest is very good. Then you do not want me 
to pay ^ " 

" No," said the bishop, " keep your money. How 
long did you take in earning these one hundred francs .? " 

" Nineteen years." 

" Nineteen years ! " the bishop gave a deep sigh. 

Victor Hugo. (Adapted by Cora Marsland.) 



22. Apparition, appearance. 

Sinister, indicative of lurking evil or harm. 

Bagne (ban'y'), one of the French prisons for convicts con- 
demned to hard labor, after the abolition of the galleys in 
1848. The bagnes were abolished in 1852. {Webster) 

Galley, a vessel of the middle ages, propelled by oars and 



THE SPIRIT OF THE SELECTION 479 

sails. A war galley often had twenty oars on each side, with 
many rowers at an oar. Galley slave, a slave who worked at 
the oars on a galley ; also a criminal condemned to such work. 

League, a measure of distance, varying for different times 
and countries from 2.4 to 4.6 miles. In France, the league 
is now 2.49 miles. 

Franc, a French coin worth 19.3 cents. 

Sou (soo), an old French coin worth about one cent. 

Strive to maintain directness of expression in the 
descriptive portions, and also, particularly, throughout 
the long paragraphs spoken by Jean Valjean. 

Consider well the first paragraph. Why hold? Why 
wearied? Why violent? Why hideous (revolting to 
the senses) .? Why sinister? 

Contrast his manner v^hen told he may stay. 

Which word in the second paragraph suggests the key 
to the bishop's manner of speaking .? 

Reread, for the special purpose of trying to interpret 
the Spirit of the Selection : 

Chap. I. Nos. 21, 22, 23, 32. 

Chap. II. Nos. 7, 34. 

Chap. IV. Nos. 14, 17, 19, 24, 27. 

Chap. V. Nos. 12, 27, 34. 

Chap. VI. Nos. 28, 29, 38, 43, 45, 50. 

Chap. IX. Nos. 9, 20, 24. 

Chap. XI. (Part I) Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6, 14, 15. 

(Part II) Nos. 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, and 

portions of 23 and 24. 
(Part III) Nos. i, 3, 4, 8, and portions 
of 10, II, 12, 13, 14. 
Chap. XII. Nos. I, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, II, 12, 13, etc. 
Chap. XIII. Nos. I, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, II, 14, etc. 
Chap. XV. Nos. I, 2, 3, 7, 9, 12, 14, 17, 18, etc. 



480 TEACHING TO READ 



Suggestive Questions for Written Review 

1. Name five ways in which " Good morning " may 
be said. 

2. (No. 7.) How does the spirit of stanza i differ from 
that of stanza 2 .? 

3. (No. 8.) Which words can be uttered in a manner 
that will suggest the spirit of the passage ? 

4. (No. 8.) Syllabify the following words, mark their 
pronunciation, and define them : similarity, considera- 
tion, naturalist, angular, deliberate, pickerel, poise, im- 
perceptible, anemone, characteristic. 

5. (No. 9.) What is the spirit underlying lines i, 2? 

3,4? 5-7? 

6. Make a list of the words in No. 10 that you are 

quite sure you can utter with a feeling of the spirit that 
they suggest. 

7. What is the underlying spirit of selection No. 11 .? 
Of No. 12? Of No. 14.? Of No. 15.? 

8. How does the spirit of No. 16 differ from that of 
No. 15? 

9. Compare Nos. 13, 18, and 20. Which do you 
prefer for a spring song .^ — Why .? 

ID. Express briefly the patriotic lesson to be gleaned 
from No. 21. 



CHAPTER XVII 
STUDIES IN PAUSE 

I. Honor is the subject of my story. 

' 2. That fire burns is one of the first lessons of child- 
hood. 

3. The saying that the third time never fails is old. 

4. Some one has called the eye the window of the soul. 

5. He is the happy man whose life even now shows 
somewhat of the happier hfe to come. ^^^^^^ ^owper. 

1-5. Pause is associated with emphasis and phrasing. 

Honor is the subject of my story. 

That fire burns is one of the first lessons of childhood. 
The saying that the third time never fails is old. 
Some one has called the eye the window of the soul. 
He is the happy man whose life even now shows some- 
what of the happier life to come. 

The above are suggestive and not arbitrary indica- 
tions. Some readers may be impressed with the impor- 
tance of ideas whose emphatic separateness is not 
indicated. 

Do not tell a pupil he must pause after Honor. 

Say, " What is the subject of your story .? '' He will 

say, " Honor." Then reply, " Read the sentence so 

that we must see it." If the result is not satisfactory, 

say, "Try it again; make it plainer." Again, 

481 



482 TEACHING TO READ 

6. Education begins a gentleman, conversation 
completes him. 

7. The fire burns, the water drowns, the air consumes, 
the earth buries. 

Drift-Wood — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 

8. Sweet are the uses of. adversity, 
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, 
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head ; 
And this our life, exempt from public haunt. 
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 
Sermons in stones, and good in everything. 

As You Like It. Act II. Scene I — William Shakespeare. 

9. Here I reign king. 

10. After a break of sixty years in the ducal line 
of the English nobility, James I created the worthless 
Villiers Duke of Buckingham. 



" Plainer yet." If necessary, again, " Plainer yet." 
By the time the class have reached No. 5, they will 
realize that pause has to do with emphasis and group- 
ing, but that it is the result, not the cause. 

6-8. Pause, as associated with the expression of 

balanced ideas. 

Education - - begins 
conversation - - completes 

The fire burns ; the water drowns ; the air consumes ; 
the earth buries. 

9, 10. Pauses are often an aid in difficult expressions. 
Here I reign king, 
created the worthless Villiers Duke of Buckingham. 



1 



STUDIES IN PAUSE 483 

11. Carthage has crossed the Alps ; Rome, the seas. 

12. As thy days, so shall thy strength be. 

Deuteronomy jj; 25. 

13. Trees are trees, and twigs twigs, but man is 
always growing, till he falls into the grave. 

My Novel — ■' Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton. 

14. A Scotch mist became a shower; and a shower, 
a flood ; and a flood, a storm ; and a storm, a tempest, 
thunder and lightning, heavenquake and earthquake. 

15. Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the 
mathematics, subtle ; natural philosophy, deep ; moral, 
grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend. 

Of Gardens — Sir Francis Bacon. 

16. Art is long, Hfe short, judgment difl&cult, op- 
portunity transient. To act is easy, to think is hard ; 
to act according to our thoughts is troublesome. . . . 
It is but a part of art that can be taught; the artist 
needs it all. Who knows it half, speaks much and 
is always wrong ; who knows it wholly, inclines to act 
and speaks seldom or late. 

Wilhelm Meister — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. 
(Translated by Thomas Carlyle.) 

II— 17. Pauses resulting from omissions. 

Carthage has crossed the Alps ; Rome [has crossed] the 
seas. 

As thy days [are] so shall thy strength be. 

15. Moral what ? Note the closer relation between 
the fourth and fifth groups because of the omission of 
the subject (philosophy) in the fifth group. 



484 TEACHING TO READ 

17. All nature is but art, unknown to thee; 
All chance, direction, which thou canst not see; 
All discord, harmony not understood ; 

All partial evil, universal good : 

And spite of pride, in erring reason's spite, 

One truth is clear ; Whatever is, is right. 

An Essay on Man. Epistle I — Alexander Pope. 

18. You have given the command to a person of 
illustrious birth, of ancient family, of innumerable 
statues, but ^ of no experience. 

19. Then he climbed the tower of the Old North 

Church, 
By the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread, 
To the belfry-chamber overhead. 
And startled the pigeons from their perch 

5 On the sombre rafters, that round him made 
Masses and moving shapes of shade, — 
By the trembling ladder, steep and tall, 
To the highest window in the wall. 
Where he paused to listen and look down 

10 A moment on the roofs of the town. 
And the moonlight flowing over all. 

Paul Revere' s Ride — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 



17. Line i. What is unknown to thee? 

Line 2. Note that the relation at the second comma 
is closer than at the first. 

18. Pause preceding an unexpected change. 

19. Pauses resulting from collateral thinking and 
marking momentary completeness. 

The old rule that the voice rises at a comma and 
falls at a period has long since been put away. This 



^ 



STUDIES IN PAUSE 485 

20. They drew him to my very feet — insensible — 
dead. He was carried to the nearest house . . . and 
every means of restoration tried ; but he had been 
beaten to death by the great wave, and his generous 
heart was stilled forever. 

David Copperfield — Charles Dickens. 

21. And lo ! as he looks, on the belfry's height 
A glimmer, and then a gleam of light ! 

He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns. 
But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight 
A second lamp in the belfry burns ! 

Paul Revere' s Ride — Henry Wads worth Longfellow, 



long sentence illustrates its fallacy. Read first with 
rising inflections throughout. Then read, noting the 
separate stages of progression, seeing the pictures 
presented, and imagining the acts. 

Then he climbed the tower of the Old North Church 

By the wooden stairs with stealthy tread 
To the belfry-chamber overhead 

And startled the pigeons from their perch 

On the sombre rafters that round him made 

Masses and moving shapes of shade 

By the trembling ladder steep and tall 
To the highest window in the wall 
Where he paused 
to listen 

and look down A moment on the roofs 
of the town And the moonlight flowing over all. 

Trace progression : tower ; belfry-chamber ; highest 
window. 

20. Appreciation of the time involved brings pause. 
Do not miss the atmosphere of the scene. 



486 TEACHING TO READ 

22. Four shall not enter Paradise : the scoffer, the 
liar, the hypocrite, and the slanderer. y. 7 j 

23. We made our way up the mountain, riding in the 
shade of lofty birches, occasionally crossing the path 
of some clear mountain stream, but hearing no human 
voice and seldom even the chirp of bird or insect. 

24. There was once a child, and he strolled about 
a good deal, and thought of a number of things. He 
had a sister, who was a child too, and his constant com- 
panion. These two used to wonder all day long. 
They wondered at the beauty of the flowers ; they 
wondered at the height and blueness of the sky ; they 
wondered at the depth of the bright water ; they won- 
dered at the goodness and power of the God who made 
the lovely world. 

They used to say to one another, sometimes : Sup- 
posing all the children upon the earth were to die, 
would the flowers, and the water, and the sky be sorry. 
They believed they would be sorry. For, said they, 
the buds are the children of the flowers, and the little 
playful streams that gambol down the hillsides are 
the children of the water ; and the smallest bright specks 
playing at hide and seek in the sky all night must surely 



21. Tim^ again. Even the glimmer and the gleam 
are separate. 

22. Consider the significance of scoffer, liar, hypo- 
crite, slanderer, as you read. 

23. Do not confuse the pictures. 

24. Do not hurry your hearers. Give them time to 
" wonder " and reason with the children, and help 
them all you can. 



STUDIES IN PAUSE 487 

be the children of the stars ; and they would all be 
grieved to see their playmates, the children of men, no 

^^^^* A Child's Dream of a Star — Charles Dickens. 

25. I think you cannot doubt that there was a con- 
spiracy formed for the purpose of committing this 
murder, and who the conspirators w^ere; that you 
cannot doubt that the Crowninshields and the Knapps 
were the parties in this conspiracy : that you cannot 
doubt that the prisoner at the bar knew that the murder 
,was to be done on the night of the sixth of April ; that 
you cannot doubt that the murderers of Captain White 
were the suspicious persons seen in and about Brown 
Street on that night : that you cannot doubt that 
Richard Crowninshield was the perpetrator of that 
crime ; that you cannot doubt that the prisoner at 
the bar was in Brown Street on that night. If there, 
then it must be by agreement, to countenance, to aid 
the perpetrator. And if so, then he is guilty as Prin- 
cipal. 

Plea in Case of the Commonwealth vs. Knap-p — Daniel Webster. 

26. I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers, 

From the seas and the streams ; 
I bear light shade for the leaves when laid 

In their noonday dreams. 
From my wings are shaken the dews that waken 



25. Momentary completeness. Mr. Webster is sum- 
ming up. He wishes ever}^ portion to impress his 
hearers, and to lodge in their minds, and, for the mo- 
ment, each portion stands complete. He might have 
expressed it in first, second, and third style. — Could he 
have delivered it as eff*ectively } 

26. Study the caesura. See Chapter II, No. 33. 



488 TEACHING TO READ 

The sweet buds every one, 
When rocked to rest on their mother's breast, 

As she dances about the sun. 
I wield the flail of the lashing hail, 

And whiten the green plains under. 
And then again I dissolve in rain, 

And laugh as I pass in thunder. 

The Cloud — Percy Bysshe Shelley. 

27. " But sometimes virtue starves while vice is fed." 
What then .^ Is the reward of virtue bread ^. 
That, vice may merit, 't is the price of toil ; 
The knave deserves it, when he tills the soil, 
s The knave deserves it, when he tempts the main, 
Where folly fights for kings, or dives for gain. 
Honor and shame from no condition rise ; 
Act well your part, there all the honor lies. 
Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow; 
10 The rest is all but leather or prunella. 
A wit's a feather, and a chief a rod ; 
An honest man's the noblest work of God. 
One self-approving hour whole years outweighs 
Of stupid starers, and of loud huzzas. 

An Essay on Man. Epistle IV — Alexander Pope. (Abridged.) 

27. A variety of illustrations of pause. Find an 
example of noticeable caesural pauses ; of unindicated 
pauses from phrasing ; from emphasis ; of momentary 
completeness ; of pause resulting from collateral thinking. 

Line i. Bring out the balancing of thought. 

Line 2. What then? — Express the question in full. 

The natural order would be : Is bread the reward 
of virtue? Recall No. 31, page 27. 

Express in your own words the thought of lines 2-5. 

Line 7. Explain. Note the force of condition. 



STUDIES IN PAUSE 489 

28. ADDRESS AT THE DEDICATION OF THE 
GETTYSBURG CEMETERY 

■ November ig, 186^. 

^ Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought 
forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in 
Hberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men 
are created equal. ^ Now we are engaged in a great 
civil war, testing whether that nation so conceived and 
so dedicated, can. long endure. ^ We are met on a great 
battlefield of that war. ^ We have come to dedicate 
a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those 
who gave their lives that that nation might live. ^ It 
is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. 
^ But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot 
consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. '^ The brave 
men, living and dead, who struggled here, have con- 
secrated it far above our power to add or detract. 
^ The world will little note, nor long remember, what we 
say here, but it can never forget what they did here. 
^ It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to 
the unfinished work which they who fought here have 
thus far so nobly advanced. ^° It is rather for us to be 
here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — • 
that from these honored dead we take increased de- 
votion to that cause for which they gave the last 
measure of devotion ; that we here highly resolve that 
these dead shall not have died in vain ; that this nation, 
under God, shall have a new birth of freedom ; and 
that government of the people, by the people, and for 
the people, shall not perish from the earth. 

Abraham Lincoln. 



Line 8. Express the thought in your own words. 
Line 9. See No. 19, page 233. 
Line 11. Explain the meaning. 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ 32 



490 TEACHING TO READ 

Lines 13, 14. Express the thought in your own words. 
Select and memorize two quotations. 

28. In his speech at Gettysburg Abraham Lincoln 
gave to the world a production which for combined 
simplicity of expression, nobility of sentiment, and 
grandeur of thought has few equals in the literature 
of the world. 

The battle of Gettysburg was fought July 1-3, 1863. In 
it 23,000 Union soldiers were lost and 25,000 Confederates. 
The cemetery contains the graves of 3580 soldiers. 

A multitude of people waited through a long program 
keenly interested to hear what Abraham Lincoln would say. 
Concerning the speech, Edward Everett, the orator of 
the day, wrote to President Lincoln on the day following : 

" Permit me to express my great admiration of the thoughts 
expressed by you with such eloquent simplicity and ap- 
propriateness at the consecration of the cemetery. I should 
be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the 
central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two 
minutes." 

Weigh the sentences — the clauses — the words. 

Consider the selection from this viewpoint : " It is 
a gem of brevity, from which no word can be taken 
without a loss, and no word added to make a gain." 

Sentence 7. When shown the slope of Cemetery Ridge up 
which General Pickett and 15,000 Confederates charged after 
crossing a mile of open ground under a terrible fire from the 
Union guns, Lincoln said, " I am proud to be the country- 
man of the men who assailed these heights." 

Why is this condensed style of composition suited 
to open-air speaking to a vast gathering of people ? 



CHAPTER XVIII 
STUDIES IN CONTINUOUS THINKING 

Long, involved, perfectly constructed complex sen- 
tences are common in literature, but not in conversa- 
tion. The average reader is unfamiliar with their 
construction and inexperienced in their expression. 
They are finished products of literary artists and elo- 
quent orators, and upon the thought and arrangement 
of many of them have been expended the very best 
efforts of the greatest minds. To attempt their expres- 
sion without understanding and appreciation is to be- 
come entangled in their complexity. 

Chapter XVIII, therefore, presents for our study and 
practice long involved sentences, and selections contain- 
ing the same. 

Pedagogical Introduction 

The conversation of our pupils is made up of short 
sentences, and loose, disjointed, poorly connected ones. 
Long and involved sentences are therefore something 
new in the field of expression and should be so recog- 
nized and so dealt with. 

Begin with the complete sentence; then take it 
apart. Trace first the main thought, and have it read. 
In No. 6, for instance, it is. We do publish and declare 
that - - that - - that - - that. Then Hnk on one by one the 
completing parts, looking into each first by itself. 

491 



492 



TEACHING TO READ 



Then go back and link on the subordinate parts : We 
— who? We — who, and where? We — who, where, 
and in what manner? Do — how? Publish and de- 
cjare — how ? 

Artistic expression of a complex sentence lies in keep- 
ing the main line of thought clear, and the relation of 
the subordinate parts clear, and in the presentation of 
each part according to its relative degree of importance. 

Frequently it will be advisable to get the sentence 
before the pupils in some form in which they can all 
see the various parts and their relations one to an- 
other. As an aid' in this work suggestive outlines for 
the thought-analyses of a number of sentences are 
included. They are not to be looked upon as gram- 
matical diagrams, and in working them out there is 
no necessity that a single grammatical term be used. 

At first the outlines may be reasoned out through 
the combined efforts of teacher and pupils : the teacher 
questioning; the pupils answering; and the teacher 
writing the result upon the blackboard. When an out- 
line stands complete, the teacher can indicate with the 
pointer the portions that she desires read or the rela- 
tions that she desires expressed, concluding with the 
reading of the entire sentence. A few moments may 
then be spent by the pupils in studying the printed 
sentence in connection with the work upon the black- 
board. Then the work upon the board should 
BE IGNORED and the reading be practiced from the 

BOOK ALONE. 

The outUning of one long sentence may be assigned 
as a part of the preparation of the lesson. 

Reread the Pedagogical Introduction to Chap. V. 



STUDIES IN CONTINUOUS THINKING 493 

SELECTIONS AND SUGGESTIVE STUDIES 

I. Ye, who sometimes, in your rambles 
Through the green lanes of the country. 
Where the tangled barberry-bushes 
Hang their tufts of crimson berries 

5 Over stone walls gray with mosses. 
Pause by some neglected graveyard, 
For a while to muse, and ponder 
On a half-efFaced inscription. 
Written with httle skill of song-craft, 

10 Homely phrases, but each letter 
Full of hope and yet of heart-break. 
Full of all the tender pathos 
Of the Here and the Hereafter ; ; — 
Stay and read this rude inscription, 

15 Read this song of Hiawatha ! 
The Song of Hiawatha — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 



I. Trace the main thought. Understand the rela- 
tion which each subordinate portion bears to the main 
thought. 

Ye, who . . . pause ... to muse and ponder • . . 
stay and read this rude inscription . . . 

Ye, who . . . pause — how often ? When ? Where .? 

To muse and ponder — how long ? On what ? 

What relation does homely phrases (line 10) bear to 
a half-effaced inscription? Meaning of homely? 

Express in your own words the meaning of Knes 10-13. 

Why do you -think Mr. Longfellow preferred to use 
leading words beginning with the same letter in Hnes 
II and 13 } 

Rude inscription (Hne 14). — Compare lines 8-13. 



494 TEACHING TO READ 

2. ^ Despite these oddities, — and even they had, for 
me at least, a humor of their own, — there was much in 
this mode of travehng which I heartily enjoyed at the 
time, and look back upon with great pleasure. ^ Even 
the running up, barenecked, at five o'clock in the 
morning, from the tainted cabin to the dirty deck ; 
scooping up the icy water, plunging one's head into 
it, and drawing it out, all fresh and glowing with the 
cold, was a good thing. ^ The fast, brisk walk upon 
the towing-path, between that time and breakfast, 
when every vein and artery seemed to tingle with health ; 
the exquisite beauty of the opening day when light came 
gleaming off from everything ; the lazy motion of the 
boat, when one lay idly on deck, looking through, 
rather than at, the deep blue sky; the gliding on at 
night so noiselessly, past frowning hills, sullen with 
dark trees, and sometimes angry in one red burning 
spot high up, where unseen men lay crouching round 
a fire ; the shining out of the bright stars, undisturbed 
by noise of wheels or steam or any other sound than 
the liquid rippling of the water as the boat went on, — 
all these were pure delights. 

Life on a Canal Boat. American Notes — Charles Dickens. 



Inscription, that which is written so as to form a lasting or 
public record ; especially a text or record on a monument. 

How is " The Song of Hiawatha " an inscription .? 
Song, poetical composition; poem. 

2. Sentence 3 is of a very different construction from 
the one from " The Song of Hiawatha." 

All these were pure delights. — Trace the series of 
unmodified " delights " : The walk, the beauty, the 
motion, etc. What mark of punctuation indicates the 
divisions of the series .? 



STUDIES IN CONTINUOUS THINKING 495 

Consider each topic separately. 

What kind of a walk? What is the difference in the 
meaning of fast and brisk? A walk — when ? Where ? 
Under what condition ? 

Read part i, remembering that the thought is in- 
complete, and that the hearer must wait for the final 
clause to know what is said about the walk. 

Consider part 2. What is the new topic ? 

Observe the value of the modifying ideas. Meaning 
oi exquisite? Can you imagine the condition described 
in the modifying clause ? 

Read parts i and 2, remembering that while each is 
independently important, both are parts of a whole. 
Add to the reading, these were pure delights. 

Consider part 3. 

Contrast the spirit of part 3 with the spirit of part i : 

The fast, brisk walk. 

The lazy motion of the boat. 

Read parts i, 2, and 3 and the main clause. Read 
so that a hearer will note the divisions, and the changes 
in topic, and yet at the same time know that the whole 
thought is incomplete until the final clause has been 
read. 

Study part 4, and how to manage the long descrip- 
tive portion and yet keep the main divisions of the 
series plain and the main topics clear for a hearer. 

Study part 5 with the same aim. 

Read the sentence complete. 

All these. — Consider what the expression includes. 

Practice reading the sentence both from the outline 
(see page 508) and from the text. 



496 TEACHING TO READ 

3. Could Nature's bounty satisfy the breast, 
The sons of Italy were surely blest ; 
Whatever fruits in different climes are found, 
That proudly rise, or humbly court the ground ; 
5 Whatever blooms in torrid tracts appear. 

Whose bright succession decks the varied year; 
Whatever sweets salute the northern sky 
With vernal lives, that blossom but to die ; 
These, here disporting, own the kindred soil, 

10 Nor ask luxuriance from the planter's toil ; 
While sea-born gales their gelid wings expand. 
To winnow fragrance round the smiling land. 

The Traveler — Oliver Goldsmith. 

4. If the ancient Roman could believe that the 
yellow Tiber was the river dearest to heaven ; if the 
Englishman can see a grandeur in the Thames which 
its size will not suggest ; if the Alpine storm-wind is a 
welcome home-song to the Swiss mountaineer; if the 
Laplander believes that his country is the best the sun 
shines upon ; if the sight of one's own national flag in 
other lands will at once awaken feelings that speed the 
blood and melt the eyes ; if the poorest man will some- 
times cherish a proud consciousness of property in the 
great deeds that glow upon his country's annals and the 
monuments of its power, — let us confess that the heart 
of man, made for the Christian law, was made also to 



3. Numbers 2 and 3 are similar. Note These in 
No. 3, and all these in No. 2. But No. 3 is a step 
more difficult than No. 2. (See outline, page 509.) 

Compare the outlines. Observe the three-part ar- 
rangement of No. 3, and the two-part of No. 2. 

Express in your own words the thought of the last 
two lines. 



STUDIES IN CONTINUOUS THINKING 497 

contract a special friendship for its native soil, its kin- 
dred stock, its ancestral traditions, — let us not fail 
to see that where the sentiment of patriotism is not 
deep, a sacred affection is absent, an essential element 
of virtue is wanting, and religion is barren of one promi- 
nent witness of its sway. 

Privileges and Duties of Patriotism — Thomas Starr King. 

5. Such, fellow citizens, as I contemplate them, are 
the great issues before the country, — nothing less, in 
a word, than whether the work of our noble fathers 
during the revolutionary and constitutional age shall 
perish or endure ; whether this great experiment in 
national poHty, which binds a family of free repubhcs 
in one united government, — the most hopeful plan 
for combining the home-bred blessings of a small state 
with the stability and power of great empire, — shall 
be treacherously and shamefully stricken down, in the 
moment of its most successful operation, or whether 
it shall be bravely, patriotically, triumphantly main- 

tameu. The Great Issue — Edward Everett. (1861.) 



4. Here again we find series, but we find also the 
inverted order of the conditional clause. Find the 
main portion. {Let us confess . . . and let us not fail 
to see, etc.) 

Make an outline of the sentence. 

Practice expressing the relations indicated thereon. 

Study the text. Read the text. 

5. The reading of this long sentence is simplified 
by understanding the meaning and use of whether. 

Observe that the issues do not separate into a 
three-part series beginning whether . . . whether . . . 
whether, but that the arrangement is whether . . . or. 



498 TEACHING TO READ 

6. ^ We, therefore, the representatives of the United 
States of America, in General Congress assembled, 
appeahng to the Supreme Judge of the world for the 
rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the 
authority of the good people of these Colonies, solemnly 
publish and declare, that these united colonies are, and 
of right ought to be, free and independent States ; 
that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British 
crown, and that all political connection between them 
and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, t6tally 
dissolved, and that, as free and independent States, 
they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, con- 
tract alliances, establish commerce, and do all other 
acts and things which independent States may of right 
do. ^ And for the support of this declaration, with 
a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, 
we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our for- 
tunes, and our sacred honor. 

Conclusion of the Declaration of Independence. 

7. ^ I have no light or knowledge not common to 
my countrymen. ^ I do not prophesy. ^ The present 
is all-absorbing to me, but I cannot bound my vision 



and whether . . . or whether. (See outline, page 509.) 

6. Here again we have series (as we so often do in 
long sentences), but we have also a number of portions 
inserted between the subject and the predicate, that 
make the reading difficult. Outline sentence i. 

7. Outline sentence 3. Observe the importance of 
noticing hy and but hy. 

Between what thoughts does the first hut indicate 
opposition ? ( The present is all-absorbing to me but a 
vision of the future rises also.) 



STUDIES IN CONTINUOUS THINKING 499 

by the blood-stained trenches around Manila, where 
every red drop, whether from the veins of an American 
soldier or a misguided Filipino, is anguish to my heart ; 
but by the broad range of future years, when that group 
of islands, under the impulse of the year just past, shall 
have become the gems and glories of those tropical 
seas ; a land of plenty and of increasing possibilities ; 
a people redeemed from savage indolence and habits, 
devoted to the arts of peace, in touch with the commerce 
and trade of all nations, enjoying the blessings of free- 
dom, of civil and religious liberty, of education and of 
homes, and whose children and children's children shall 
for ages hence bless the American Republic because it 
emancipated and redeemed their fatherland and set 
them in the pathway of the world's best civilization. 

Our Duty to the Philippines — William McKinley. 



8. AN APPEAL IN BEHALF OF GREECE 

From the Speech in the House of Representatives, January 25, 
182/1., in support of a resolution providing for an agent to be sent 
to Greece during the Greek war for independence. 

It is not for Greece alone that I desire to see this measure 
adopted. It will give to her but little support, and that 
purely of a moral kind. It is principally for America, 
for the credit and character of our common country, 
for our own unsullied name, that I hope to see this 
resolution pass. 

Mr. Chairman, what appearance on the page of his- 
tory would a record like this exhibit : " In the month 
of January, in the year of our Lord and Saviour, 1824, 
while all European Christendom beheld, with cold and 
unfeeling indifference, the unexampled wrongs and 
inexpressible misery of Christian Greece, a proposition 
was made in the Congress of the United States, — 
almost the sole, the last, the greatest depository of human 



500 TEACHING TO READ 

hope and human freedom, the representatives of a gal- 
lant nation, containing a million of freemen ready to 
fly to arms, — while the people of that nation were 
spontaneously expressing its deep-toned feeling, and 
the whole continent, by one simultaneous emotion, was 
rising, and solemnly and anxiously supplicating and 
invoking high heaven to spare and succor Greece, and 
to invigorate her arms in her glorious cause, while 
temples and senate houses were alike resounding with 
one burst of generous and holy sympathy ; in the year 
of our Lord and Saviour, — that Saviour of Greece 
and of us, — a proposition was offered in the American 
Congress to send a messenger to Greece, to inquire into 
her state and condition, with a kind expression of our 
good wishes and our sympathies, — and it was re- 
jected ! " 

Go home, if you can, — go home, if you dare, — to 
your constituents, and tell them that you voted it 
down ! Meet, if you can, the appalling countenances 
of those who sent you here, and tell them that you 
shrank from the declaration of your own sentiments ; 
that you cannot tell how, but that some unknown 
dread, some indescribable apprehension, some indefin- 
able danger, drove you from your purpose ; that the 
specters of scimeters, and crowns, and crescents gleamed 
before you and alarmed you; and that you suppressed 
all the noble feelings prompted by religion, by liber- 
ality, by national independence, and by humanity ! 
I cannot bring myself to believe that such will be the 
feeling of a majority of the committee. But, for myself, 
though every friend of the cause should desert it, and 
I be left to stand alone with the gentleman from Massa- 
chusetts, I will give to his resolution the poor sanction 
of my unqualified approbation. Henry Clay 



8. Outline ^2. 



STUDIES IN CONTINUOUS THINKING 501 

9. LIBERTY AND UNION 

From the Reply to Hayne, delivered in the United States Senate^ 

January 27, 1830. 

^ While the Union lasts, we have high, exciting, grati- 
fying prospects spread out before us, for us and our 
children. ^ Beyond that I seek not to penetrate the 
veil. ^ God grant that, in my day, at least, that cur- 
tain may not rise ! ^ God grant that on my vision never 
may be opened what lies behind ! ^ When my eyes 
shall be turned to behold for the last time the sun in 
heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and 
dishonored fragments of a once glorious Union ; on 
states dissevered, discordant, belligerent ; on a land 
rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in frater- 
nal blood ! ^ Let their last feeble and lingering glance 
rather behold the gorgeous ensign of the Republic, 
now known and honored throughout the earth, still 
full high advanced, its arms and trophies streaming 
in their original luster, not a stripe erased or polluted, 
nor a single star obscured, bearing for its motto, no 
such miserable interrogatory as, " What is all this 
worth } '^ nor those other words of delusion and folly, 
" Liberty first and Union afterwards ; " but everywhere, 
spread all over in characters of living light, blazing on 
all its ample folds, as they float over the sea and over 
the land, and in every wind under the whole heavens, 
that other sentiment, dear to every true American 
heart, — Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and 
inseparable ! r»,.. ^. wir^^.^^r. 

^ Daniel Webster. 



9. Sentence 6, ^[3, requires sentence 5 also for clear- 
ness. One thought after another is Hnked on, building 
the sentence up to a climactic ending. (Page 510.) 

Observe how and, or, but, and nor help to keep the 
relations of the portions to each other clear. 



502 TEACHING TO READ 



lO. THANATOPSIS 

To him who in the love of Nature holds 
Communion with her visible forms, she speaks 
A various language ; for his gayer hours 
She has a voice of gladness, and a smile 
5 And eloquence of beauty, and she glides 
Into his darker musings, with a mild 
And healing sympathy, that steals away 
Their sharpness, ere he is aware. When thoughts 
Of the last bitter hour come like a blight 

lo Over thy spirit, and sad images 

Of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall. 
And breathless darkness, and the narrow house, 
Make thee to shudder, and grow sick at heart ; — 
Go forth, under the open sky, and list 

15 To Nature's teachings, while from all around — 
Earth and her waters, and the depths of air — 
Comes a still voice — Yet a few days, and thee 
The all-beholding sun shall see no more 
In all his course ; nor yet in the cold ground, 

20 Where thy pale form was laid, with many tears, 
Nor in the embrace of ocean, shall exist 
Thy image. Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim 
Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again ; 
And, lost each human trace, surrendering up 

25 Thine individual being, shalt thou go 
To mix forever with the elements. 
To be a brother to the insensible rock 
And to the sluggish clod, which the rude swain 
Turns with his share, and treads upon. The oak 

30 Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mould. 
Yet not to thine eternal resting place 
Shalt thou retire alone, nor couldst thou wish 
Couch more magnificent. Thou shalt lie down 
With patriarchs of the infant world — with kings, 

35 The powerful of the earth — the wise, the good, 



STUDIES IN CONTINUOUS THINKING 503 

Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past, 
All in one mighty sepulchre. The hills 
Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun, — the vales 
Stretching in pensive quietness between ; 

40 The venerable woods ; rivers that move 
In majesty, and the complaining brooks 
That make the meadows green ; and, poured round 

all. 
Old ocean's gray and melancholy waste, — 
Are but the solemn decorations all 

45 Of the great tomb of man. The golden sun. 
The planets, all the infinite host of heaven. 
Are shining on the sad abodes of death. 
Through the still lapse of ages. All that tread 
The globe are but a handful to the tribes 

so That slumber in its bosom. — Take the wings 
Of morning, pierce the Barcan wilderness, 
Or lose thyself in the continuous woods 
Where rolls the Oregon, and hears no sound 
Save his own dashings — yet the dead are there ! 

55 And miUions in those soHtudes, since first 

The flight of years began, have laid them down 
In their last sleep — the dead reign there alone. 
So shalt thou rest, and what if thou withdraw 
In silence from the living, and no friend 

60 Take note of thy departure .? All that breathe 
Will share thy destiny. The gay will laugh 
When thou art gone, the solemn brood of care 
Plod on, and each one, as before, will chase 
His favorite phantom ; yet all these shall leave 

65 Their mirth and their employments and shall come 
And make their bed with thee. As the long train 
Of ages ghde away, the sons of men. 
The youth in hfe's green spring, and he who goes 
In the full strength of years, matron and maid, 
70 The speechless babe, and the gray-headed man — 
Shall one by one be gathered to thy side. 
By those who in their turn shall follow them. 



504 TEACHING TO READ 

So live, that when thy summons comes to join 
The innumerable caravan, which moves 

75 To that mysterious realm, where each shall take 
His chamber in the silent halls of death, 
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night, 
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed 
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave, 

80 Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams. 

William Cullen Bryant. 



10. Thanatopsis, [Gr. thanatos, death, and opsis, 2l view], 
a view of death ; or meditations on death. 

Lines 3-8. Do not miss the contrast. 

Lines 8-22. Note the inverted portion. What is 
the main thought ? 
• Note inserted portion. What is the main thought ^ 

To what still voice does the poet refer .^ 

In how many places will thy image no longer exist .? 
Why .? (See sentence following.) 

Lines 31, 32. Yet not to thine eternal resting-place 
shah thou retire alone. — Read the portion further on 
that explains this. 

Line 34. Infant world. — The world in the early 
ages, or in ancient times. 

Patriarch, the oldest representative ; a person regarded 
as the father or founder of a race, a religion, or the like. 

Lines 32, 33. Nor couldst thou wish couch more 
magnificent. — Trace the portion further on that en- 
larges upon this. 

Lines 44, 45. What things are all the solemn decora- 
tions of the great tomb of man ? 



STUDIES IN CONTINUOUS THINKING 505 

II. THE CHARMS OF RURAL LIFE 
From Rural Life in England. The Sketch Book. 

1 In rural occupation there is nothing mean and 
debasing. ^ It leads a man forth among scenes of natu- 
ral grandeur and beauty ; it leaves him to the workmgs 
of his own mind, operated upon by the purest and most 
elevating of external influences. ^ Such a man may be 
simple and rough, but he cannot be vulgar. ^Ihe 
man of refinement, therefore, finds nothmg revoltmg 
in an intercourse with the lower orders m rural lite, as 
he does when he casually mingles with the lower orders 
of cities. ^ He lays aside his distance and reserve, and 
is glad to waive the distinctions of rank, and to enter 
into the honest, heartfelt enjoyments of common life. 
6 Indeed the very amusements of the country bring 
men more and more together; and the sound of 
hound and horn blend all feehngs into harmony 
^ I beheve this is one great reason why the nobility and 
gentry are more popular among the inferior orders in 
England than they are in any other country; and why 
the latter have endured so many excessive pressures 
and extremities, without repining more generally at 
the unequal distribution of fortune and privilege. 

iTo this minghng of cultivated and rustic society 
may also be attributed the rural feeUng that runs 
through British literature ; the frequent use of illus- 
trations from rural life; those incomparable descrip- 
tions of nature that abound in the British poets, that 
have continued down from " The Flower and the Leat 



Line 48. Lapse, a gradual progress or passing. 

' Line 50. Take the wings of morning. — Psalms 139 : Q- 
Line 51. Barcan wilderness. — The part of the Great 
Desert extending into Barca, in North Africa. 

Line 53. The Oregon. — ^ow called the Columbia. 

TURNER, TEACH. TO READ — 33 



5o6 TEACHING TO READ 

of Chaucer, and have brought into our closets all the 
freshness and fragrance of the dewy landscape. ^ The 
pastoral writers of other countries appear as if they had 
paid nature an occasional visit, and become acquainted 
with her general charms ; but the British poets have 
lived and revelled with her — they have wooed her in 
her most secret haunts — they have watched her 
minutest caprices. ^ A spray could not tremble in 
the breeze — a leaf could not rustle to the ground — 
a diamond drop could not patter in the stream — a 
fragrance could not exhale from the humble violet, 
nor a daisy unfold its crimson tints to the morning, but 
it has been noticed by these impassioned and delicate 
observers, and wrought up into some beautiful 
morality. 

^ The effect of this devotion of elegant minds to rural 
occupations has been wonderful on the face of the 
country. ^ A great part of the island is rather level, 
and would be monotonous, were it not for the charms 
of culture : but it is studded and gemmed, as it were, 
with castles and palaces, and embroidered with parks 
and gardens. ^ It does not abound in grand and sub- 
lime prospects, but rather in little home scenes of rural 
repose and sheltered quiet. ^ Every antique farm- 
house and moss-grown cottage is a picture : and as 
the roads are continually winding, and the view is 
shut in by groves and hedges, the eye is delighted by a 
continual succession of small landscapes of captivating 
loveliness. 

^ The great charm, however, of English scenery is 
the moral feeling that seems to pervade it. ^ It is 
associated in the mind with ideas of order, of quiet, of 
sober, well-established principles, of hoary usage and 
reverend custom. ^ Everything seems to be the growth 
of ages of regular and peaceful existence. ^ The old 
church of remote architecture, with its low, massive 
portal ; its Gothic tower ; its windows rich with 
tracery and painted glass, in scrupulous preservation; 



STUDIES IN CONTINUOUS THINKING 507 

its stately monuments of warriors and worthies of the 
olden time, ancestors of the present lords of the soil ; 
its tombstones, recording successive generations of 
sturdy yeomanry, whose progeny still plough the same 
fields, and kneel at the same altar — the parsonage, a 
quaint irregular pile, partly antiquated, but repaired 
and altered in the tastes of various ages and occupants 
— the stile and footpath leading from the churchyard, 
across pleasant fields, and along shady hedgerows, 
according to an immemorial right of way — the neigh- 
boring village, with its venerable cottages, its public 
green sheltered by trees, under which the forefathers 
of the present race have sported — the antique family 
mansion, standing apart in some little rural domain, 
but looking down with a protecting air on the sur- 
rounding scene : all these common features of English 
landscape evince a calm and settled security, and he- 
reditary transmission of homebred virtues and local 
attachments, that speak deeply and touchingly for the 
moral character of the nation. 

^ It is a pleasing sight of a Sunday morning, when 
the bell is sending its sober melody across the quiet 
fields, to behold the peasantry in their best finery, with 
ruddy faces and modest cheerfulness, thronging tran- 
quilly along the green lanes to church ; but it is still 
more pleasing to see them in the evenings, gathering 
about their cottage doors, and appearing to exult in 
the humble comforts and embellishments which their 
own hands have spread around them. 

It is this sweet home feeling, this settled repose of 
affection in the domestic scene, that is, after all, the 
parent of the steadiest virtues and purest enjoyments. 

Washington Irving. 

II. Irving gives us many long sentences. The 
arrangement of sentence 4, ^[4, is readily traced after 
the study of Nos. 2 and 3. 



5o8 



TEACHING TO READ 



CO 

I— t 
O 

w 
> 

H 

CO 

W 

o 
o 

D 

CO 






a, 































V 


1 






























M 


1 


















en 




o 








•5 


O 






















.s 

V4 








•73 

C 
p 
















Oh 




13 

G 


bjo 

G 
tn 


t3 

o 

bfl 

c 

IB 

o 
o 


'3 


g 


O 
en 
ii 

o 


o 
Xt 

V 






J3 

(U 
















s 

o 




O I) 
(A 




i 

V 






Vm 






-t-> 






bX) 








,^___ 




. 


1^ 




O 
(U 

tn 

"o 






-a 


c 










J3 


V 

1 

o 




IS 

(U 

> 




o 

•5 


2 




IS 
biO 

o 




a 

0) 

S 

c 

0) 
lA 








4-> 
(4-1 

o 

bA 

a 






to 


U 






s 

0) 


^ 


o 






.s 

o 
o 

■—1 




■4-) 




1) 




i-i 

en 

'd 




'3 




t« 


C/3 


■T3 


o 






^ 










3 




.?■ 




•S 


V4 


biO 


bX) 












^ 




of 








'$ 


<U 


c 


c 






0) 




en 




(£, 




u 








o 

■^-t 




*s 


"s 






■r) 








pi 




s 










CI 
c3 


0) 


'blo 


rt 




o 




.2 
'o 

c 




IS 




en 

.bjO 








.s 

> 


,J3 


(U 


o 




r2 




o 




■i-> 




'm 








o 

p. 

:3 


o 


a 

c3 


J3 




^ 




in 
5 




o 

en 












M 


>% 


>t 


o 

4_l 






ctJ 




,bJO 




bjO 




■5 








1—1 


> 


^ 


^ 


^-l 




<u 




'c 




G 




«M 






CO 


;3 

.Q 




O 

d 
o 




o 




d 




'S 




o 
o 








.52 








•1-4 








o 
•S 




' 'd 








a 

4} 


J3 


^ 


|3j 


^ 


§ 




^ 










.3 






•H 


jj" 




*3 












.•2 








d 






a 


CA 




cr 




>^ 














•r4 






CO 


.«3 








43 








•a 








•s 










a 




<o 








s 








s 






ej 




M 

>*-> 




.a 

■4J 








5 








^ 






6 
































& 

































SUGGESTIVE OUTLINES 



509 






• « 


U] 


• »4 


V. 


R 


4> 






in 


ID 




C 


V 






^ 


C 


V 

■5 




a 







E 


bC 





c 


til 



a ^ 



•a 


9 


V 


X 




1 






j= 


Ji4 






S! 


(4 


V 


u 


J= 





H !z; 



B 

Vl 

M 



c 




3 









iH 




be 


u 


V 






a 


' 


a 



3 en 



C "5 



^ - ^ 



rt 4j 



Ic a, 



6^ 



J= ■£ 



-^2 



c 


3 


u 


^ 


J= 


g 


1m 







tn 


C 













J= 


U3 









'■5 >• 








V 


^ 


^ 


^ 


u 


1/1 


>. 


a 


a 

^ 










rt 




Vl- 


;z; 







•n 




a 








a 




Ul 


a 




1 


eo 














•a t5 
c c 
S « 



bO-- 
c g 
•r M 

1) 'O 

bc a 

u 3 
•3 o 
V hi 



2 ^ 






„ o 













•-VN 


4; 


^ 












t<-l 


0. 


a 































c 


Ih 


•5 












V 


(/} 














s 


^ 

















u 














g 




3 














u 


<a 














,c 


4^ 




























,^ 













.. 




C 



e 
J 


g 




J3 




5i 




"O 








ifl 


u 


3 




a 








;-i 





Tl 




« 








V 




s 




^ 






1 


a. 




V 






















■ — ! 






0) 






V 




,4 












a 

c 




>. 








4) 




Ul 

3 

s 




>> 




V 




^ 




■0 






> 




V 




1 




Cli 




u 








p. 




s 




fi 




« 




4J 




g 








tn 




rt 




rt 




a 




<M 




bO 









Vm 




tn 









c 








>, 














U2 

3 


2 


<3 


1 












u 
















^ 




V 








pC 




b 

















X 








V 








M 




















2 's 

*- 






^ 

1 

ji 




> 

rt 


_o 






ja 


a. 


3 










>» -5 








— 0, 




V 




S 3 




M 






^ 




«« u 




rt 




ns 0< 




,C 




,« 




in 




-f-^ 




■w 




















,n 








^ g 




4-; 




<-> 11 




« 




j= ^ 








> ^ 










hi 




—1 
















« c 






4J 


>- 1 


3 




1^ 


<§ 






bb 


XI 










V 





J 




^ 


tn 


g 






C 






u 


u 




V 


N 


M 












ct 





V 






^ 


rt 









O. 








g 




rC 


Ji 







V 




3 


J 


8 




to 




1— 1 





5IO 



TEACHING TO READ 



« S.2 



a i 



bfi 

a 



•a 



la 

o 


> 


rt 


V 


^ 


o 




J3 


^ 


^ 


^ 


V 


M 



— J3 

o a 

o <u 

3 P^ 



jj o 






•w O 3 O 



ra S 



rT-'t: " 



'o -5 



in 0-5 



t> o.sjj j: 



3 

to 

r. ^ 

m — 

ca ^ 
u 

a 

a> 
■*■> 

fl >. 





3 




rr^ " 


Tl 


1) Xi 
3 ° 


« 






s 


° oS 


V 


a. tfl 




4) V 




S* "wo 




i c 



u 




M 


o 




C 


s 






a 




fS 


> 






x> 




a> 








-a 




in 


bo 






JS 




V 






JS 


a 


s 


•a S* 
§ 8 


^^ 


rt 





U S 



1:2 "-I b» 



"55 ^ 



a 


a 


V 


N 




nl 


Oi 




U] 


^ 











•a 










c 










a 










1 


rt 




s 




s 




JS 




^ 




T) 




•s 


&> 
















la 




s: 


4> 




V 






> 




> 




r' 


O 














«2 

bO 

a 



o 



ARTICULATION 
ARTICULATION 



Sii 



The elementary sounds of the Enghsh language 
should be known, understood, and practiced. 

The Elementary Sounds 

Arranged from Webster's New International Dictionary. 





Vocals 


Key-Words 




Voiced 
Conso- 
nants 


Key-Words 




Voice- 
less 
Conso- 
nants 


Key-Words 


I 


a 


fate 


I 


b 


bane 


I 


f 


fate 


2 


a 


fat 


2 


d 


Dane 


2 


h 


hate 


3 


a 


father 


3 


g 


gain 


3 


k 


kill 


4 


a 


fast* 


4 


J 


jet 


4 


P 


pill 


5 


a 


fare** 


5 


1 


let 


5 


S 


sill 


6 


e 


weed 


6 


m 


met 


6 


t 


till 


7 


e 


wed 


7 


n 


net 


7 


ch 


chip 


8 


i 


rice 


8 


r 


real 


8 


sh 


ship 


9 


i 


rill 


9 


V 


veal 


9 


th 


thin 


lO 


5 


old 


lO 


w 


well 


lO 


wh 


white 


II 


6 


odd 


II 


y 


yell 








12 


o 


orb 


12 


z 


zeal 








13 


§ 


oft*** 


13 


zh 


azure 








14 


u 


use 


14 


-tb- 


then 








IS 


u 

u 

oo 

o6 


up 
urn 
food 
foot 


15 


ng 


sing 








i6 

17 
i8 


*The sound is between short 
and Italian a in father. 

**This sound occurs only ir 
closed by r. The vowel glide 


: a, in fat, 

I syllables 
s into the 


19 

20 


oi 
ou 


oil 
out 


CO 

- an 


nsonan 
***The 
d 6 in 


t. 

' sound u 

orb. 


5 be 


tween 


6 in odd 



512 TEACHING TO READ 

Vowels in Unaccented Syllables 

The sound of the vowel may be "obscured" through the 
accent falHng upon another syllable. 

a in sen'ate Obscure a 

a in sylvan ; dc cuse' Obscure a 
a in so'f^ ; a bide' Obscure a 

a. — This sound is neither a, e, nor i. It is the initial 
element of the a sound without the vanishing portion. The 
symbol ( "^ ) indicates by the downward stroke that the van- 
ishing portion of a is cut off. 

a. — This sound occurs most frequently in final or initial 
syllables closed by a consonant. In formal speaking the 
sound is a, but in colloquial speech it is allowably obscured 
to become almost or quite the same as a in so'fa. 

a. — This sound occurs in upon unaccented syllables. 

e in e vent' Obscure e 

e in mo'mmt Obscure e 

e in mak'er Obscure u 

e in open (5'p'n) Obscured before n and 1 

For i, o, and u in unaccented syllables, and also for 
vowel correlatives, see Dictionary. 

Correlatives 
a in fall = 6 in orb 
a in swan = 6 in odd 
a in any = e in end 

In the following exercise give the voiced consonant 
and then its correlative voiceless consonant. Note 
that the articulative position for each pair is the same. 

b p j ch 

d t V f 

g k z s 

tlv - - - th 



ARTICULATION 513 

Many common articulation difficulties find represen- 
tation in the following familiar exercises. 

Troublesome consonantal combinations should be 
practiced until they slip *' trippingly on the tongue." 
Sentences arranged for vowel practice should be re- 
peated more slowly. 

A The amiable aeronaut aided in aerial entertainment. 

B A big black bug bit a big black bear. 

Bl A bleak breeze blighted the bright broom blossoms. 

Br Bring a bit of buttered brown bran bread. 

D Dick dipped a tippet in the dipper and dripped it. 

E Peevish, feeble freemen feebly fight for freedom. 

F The fading flowers breathe forth fresh fragrance. 

G Eight great gray geese grazing gayly into Greece. 
Glassy gray-green glaciers gleam in glowing light. 

H Henry Hingham has hung his harp on the hook where 
he hitherto hung his hoop. 

J Jacob, give Joe Jim Gile's gilt gig whip. 

K Curtis Kirkham Kames cruelly kept the kite while his 
cousin Catharine Kennedy cried. 
The laurel-crowned clown crouched cowering. 

X Lucy likes light literature. 

The cat ran up the ladder with a lump of raw liver in 
her mouth. 
Ld The old cold scold sold a school coal-scuttle. 

M Masses of immense magnitude move majestically. 

Ng Answer echoes : dying, dying. (Prolong suggestively.) 
Nz A noisy noise annoys an oyster. 

P Cut the pulpy pumpkin and put it in a pipkin. 

Pluma placed the pretty pewter platter on a pile of 
plates. 



514 TEACHING TO READ 

R A rural ruler truly rural. 

Around the rough and rugged rocks the ragged rascal 
ran. 

Sh She says she shall sew a sheet. 

Some shun sunshine. Do you shun sunshine? 
She sells sea shells. Shall she sell sea shells? 
Should such shapely sashes shabby stitches show? 
SI The slow snail's slime. 

Sam Slick sawed six, slim, sleek, slender saplings for 
sale. 
St The soldiers winced whilst the shells burst in the midst 

of the tents. 
Sir Through the street the strident stripling strides. 
Sts Amidst the mists and coldest frosts. 

With stoutest wrists and loudest boasts, 
He thrusts his fists against the posts 
And still insists he sees the ghosts. 

Tk Six thick thistle sticks. 

Ths He adds fourths, fifths, sixths, sevenths, eighths, ninths, 
tenths, elevenths, and twelfths. 

Four - th - s ; four - th - s ; fourth - th - s, — fourths. 
Six - th - s ; six - th - s ; six - th - s, — sixths. 

Ths Beneath the booths the youths found baths, cloths, 

laths, moths, sheaths, paths, and wreaths. 
Tzv If one of the twines of a twist do untwist, 

The twine that untwisteth, untwisteth the twist. 

F A vile vagabond ventured to vilify a venerable veteran. 

W Five wise wives weave withered withes. 

fFh What whim led White Whitney to whittle, whistle, 
whisper, and whimper, near a wharf, where a floun- 
dering whale might wheel and whirl? 

vdst; St; ts ; rdst; t; Vdst; rns ; k^dst; ndst 
Thou lov'dst nature's wildest haunts; thou wander'dst 
through the deepest forests, climb'dst the loftiest 
mountains, explor'dst the deepest caverns, linger'dst 
by the noisiest streams, look'dst upon the ocean, and 
listen'dst to its roar. 



INDEX OF TITLED SELECTIONS 

Address at the Dedication of the Gettysburg ^age 

Cemetery Abraham Lincoln . . 4°9 

Advantages of Truth, The Sir Richard Steele . . 25 

Advice of Polonius to His Son, The . . . WiUiam Shakespeare . . 80 

America George Berkeley . . 258 

American Flag, The Joseph Rodman Drake . . 45° 

Appeal in Behalf of Greece, An Henry Clay . . 499 

Artist's Secret, The Olive Schremer . .435 

Automobile, The Russell Doubleday . . 48 

Behind Time Freeman Hunt . . 132 

Benjamin Franklin's Toast 2^7 

Blue and the Gray, The Francis Miles Fmch . . 168 

Bounding the United States John Fiske . .357 

Brutus in the Forum William Shakespeare . . 28 

Character of Charles the First . . Thomas Babington Macaulay . . 305 

Charms of Rural Life, The Washington Irving . . 507 

Colonies z'^rjwj England, The . . . . . Richard O'Gorman . .161 

Coming of Lafayette, The Charles Sprague . . 162 

Compensation Ralph Waldo Emerson . . I55 

Complaint and Reproof Samuel Taylor Coleridge . . 27 

Destruction of Pompeii .... Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton . . 98 

Eagle, The Alfred Tennyson . . 453 

Edgar Allan Poe ......... Paul Hamilton Hayne . . 158 

Everlasting Memorial, The Horatius Bonar . . 47 

Face Against the Pane, The ..... Thomas Bailey Aldrich . . 443 

Farewell, A Charles Kingsley . .216 

Franklin's Prophecy John Fiske . . 257 

Gitche Manito and the Warriors . Henry Wadsworth Longfellow . .376 

Glimpses of Samuel Johnson 237 

Gladiator, The . Lord Byron . . 438 

Heath, The Wilson Flagg . . 383 

Impartiality of Nature, The John Burroughs . . 302 

Impeachment of Warren Hastings, The . . . Edmund Burke . .301 

In Carlyle's Country John Burroughs . . 202 

Independence Forever Daniel Webster . .384 

Indian Jugglery Wilham Hazlitt . . 253 

In the Morning Anonymous . . IS5 

Preamble of the Declaration of Independence 218 

515 



5l6 INDEX OF TITLED SELECTIONS 

PAGE 

Jean Valjean and the Bishop Victor Hugo . . 476 

Landing of the Pilgrims, The Daniel Webster . . 134 

Lark in the Gold Fields, The Charles Reade . . 421 

Launch of the Ship, The . . . Henry Wadsworth Longfellow . . 290 

Liberty and Union Daniel Webster . . 501 

Liberty or Death Patrick Henry . . 308 

Mayflower, The Edward Everett . . 454 

Meeting of Fitz-James and Roderick Dhu . . Sir Walter Scott . . 344 

Meeting of Gesler and Tell, The Sheridan Knowles . . 342 

My Heart's in the Highlands Robert Burns . . 378 

Nature of True Eloquence, The Daniel Webster . . 130 

New England Caleb Cushing . . 275 

New South, The Henry Woodfen Grady . . 440 

Orpheus with his Lute William Shakespeare . . 51 

Passing of the Rubicon, The Sheridan Knowles . .312 

Patriotism Sir Walter Scott . . 475 

Personal Responsibility Lyman Abbott . .159 

Rainy Day,* The Henry Wadsworth Longfellow . . 473 

Recessional • • ; Rudyard Kipling . .388 

Reminiscence of Lexington, A Theodore Parker . . 240 

Rewarding of Horatius, The . . . Thomas Babington Macaulay . . 255 

Rip Van Winkle Washington Irving . . 426 

Rip Van Winkle at the Tavern Washington Irving . . 338 

RoUa's Address to the Peruvians . . . A. F. F. von Kotzebue . . 166 

Rome and Carthage Victor Hugo . . 287 

Seven Ages of Man, The William Shakespeare . . 129 

Song of the Rain, The The Spectator . . 380 

Spacious Firmament, The " . Joseph Addison . . 96 

Sweet Auburn Oliver Goldsmith . . 200 

Thanatopsis William Cullen Bryant . . 502 

Throstle, The Alfred Tennyson . . 474 

Victor of Marengo, The 448 

Voice of Spring, The Felicia Hemans . . 472 

Wanted — Men Josiah Gilbert Holland . .387 

Warren's Address John Pierpont . .311 

Washington Theodore Parker . . 23 

What Constitutes a State ? Sir William Jones . . 164 

White Squall, The William Makepeace Thackeray . . 433 

You Cannot Conquer America William Pitt . -359 

Young Men, Ahoy ! John Bartholomew Gough . . 304 



INDEX OF FIRST WORDS 

(Of untitled selections) 



A blizzard on the prairie 

A certain amount of opposi 

tion 

A cheerful temper . . 
A Gourd wound . . 
A lie which is all a lie 
A little learning . . 
A little neglect . . . 
A man must be one . 
A ruler who appoints . 
A second match . . 
A soft answer turneth 
A tart temper . . . 
A vain man's motto . 
After rambling leisurely- 
All nature is but art . 
All that tread the globe 
All things are double . 
And had he not high honor 
And it came to pass . 
And lo ! as he looks . 
And long they fought 
And now the bell . . 
And out again I curve 
And what is so rare . 
And while, with care . 
Are not my people happy ? 

Art is long 

As a countenance is made 
As the sun does not wait 
As wasps, provoked . . 
At the battle of Eutaw . 
At the door on summer even 



mgs 



Beauty is but a vain 



PAGE 

IS 

17 

296 

38 

90 

9 

72 

41 

404 

^1 
38 
12 
244 
484 
39 

193 
271 

268 

485 
270 
199 
69 
124 
190 
274 

483 
247 

79 
248 
328 

323 

120 
5 



Blessings on him . . . 
Born in stormy times . . 
Break, break, break . . 
" But sometimes virtue . 
But when the gray dawn 
But yesterday the word . 
By foreign hands . . . 

Could Nature's bounty . 
Curiosity is no doubt . . 

Day ! Faster and more . 
Despite these oddities 
Diogenes, being asked 
"Down, down," cried Mar 
Down dropt the breeze . 
Dr. Abernethy .... 
Drawing his sword, he . 
During the battle of Crecy 

Education gives power . 
Every young man is now 



First in war, first in peace 
For right is right . . 
For Romans in Rome's 
Four shall not enter . 
Friends, Romans . . 
From a child I was fond 
From the workshop of 



General Wolfe was . . 
Gentlemen, I am a Whig 
Gently, silently, the love 
George Washington rested 
" Gwt^ us a song ! " . . 
God made the country . . 

17 



PAGE 
123 

152 
369 

488 

43 
142 
368 

496 

251 

357 
494 

208 
322 
372 
267 
410 
266 

62 
119 

119 

44 

72 

486 

213 

229 

46s 

234 
351 
469 

327 

322 

60 



5i8 



INDEX OF FIRST WORDS 



God, not man, is . . . 
God sends every bird 
Good breeding is . . . 
Good name in man . . 
Good words make friends 
Grow old along with me I 

Hark ! hark ! the lark . 
Have you hear-d of . . 
Having now shown . . 
He gave it for his opinion 
He [the Most High] gave th 
He halts and searches 
He is no wise man . 
He is the happy man 
He jests at scars 
He may live without 
He raised a mortal 
He read on a marble 
He that does good . 
He that knows not 
He that loveth . . 
He that would govern 
He was never a man 
He who is ignorant. 
Help thou thy brother 
Here I stand . . . 
Here on this beach 
Histories make men 
" Honor and shame 
Hope springs eternal 
How beautiful the long 
How beautiful this night 
How do you think . . 
How far that little . . 
How shall a man obtain 
How wonderful is Death 
Hurrah ! hurrah for . 
Hurrah ! the lifeboat . 
Hurrah ! the seaward 

I am charged with pride 
I am thinking . . . 
I bring fresh showers 
I count this thing to be 



PAGE 

II 

6S 
42 

465 
141 

227 

281 

327 
212 

2C9 

185 

75 
143 
481 

12 

273 

142 

209 

67 

43 

IIS 

12 

69 
II 

281 

351 

183 

483 

233 

IS 

88 

93 
404 

281 
272 

367 
467 
286 
285 

19 
3SO 
487 
183 



fear three newspapers 

had rather be . . . 

have done my duty . 

have no light . . . 

held it truth . . . 

know that I have 

looked without . . 

pray the prayer . . 

say nothing of . . 

should infinitely . . 

think you cannot 

was born an American 

would do what . . 
f a word spoken . . 
f one has frequent 
f the ancient Roman 
f we work upon marble 
f when I read a book 
f you look about you 
f you will be . . . 
f you would not be . 
magine the effect 
n midst of wide green 
n order to do this 
n words, as fashions 
n words the godly man 
ntelligence and . . 
t happened upon . . 
t has been observed , 
t is a matter of . . 
t is excellent discipline 
t is not what people eat 
t is only necessary 
t is said that from 
t is this accursed . 
t is with words 
t sounds to him like 
t was the hour . . 

King Canute was . 
Know old Cambridge 
" Know then this truth 
Knowledge humbleth 

Lead out the pageant . 



419 



INDEX OF FIRST WORDS 



519 





PAGE 


" Let me make 


224 


Light lay the earth . . . 


65 


Like the leaves 


150 


Little Nell was dead . . . 


470 


Longfellow lived .... 


232 


Man proposes but God . . 


66 


Man-like is it to fall . . . 


366 


Many men seem great . . 


II 


Meanwhile we did .... 


191 


Mont Blanc is 


413 


Most potent, grave . . . 


213 


Name to me an animal . . 


143 


Next, the dear aunt . . . 


194 


No book is worth .... 


366 


No man can safely . . ■ . 


149 


No pain, no palm .... 


117 


No pencil has ever .... 


189 


Not only is he idle .... 


^S 


Now came still Evening . . 


417 


Alcohol ! thou .... 


284 


for boyhood's .... 


126 


! many a shaft .... 


62 


summer day beside . . . 


146 


Woman ! in our hours 


147 


Of all sad words .... 


211 


Of all the horrid .... 


89 


Of man's first 


249 


Oh, a dainty plant .... 


92 


Oh ! Mona's waters . . . 


150 


Old homestead ? .... 


407 


On looking at the matter . . 


125 


On the Fourth of July . . 


236 


On waking, he 


329 


One afternoon when . . . . 


40s 


One may judge' 


128 


One may live 


68 


Only a sculptor 


189 


Other things may .... 


68 


"Our enemies are .... 


14s 


Pleasures are like . . . . 


63 


Pygmies are pygmies . . . 


. 19 



Reading maketh 
Rollicking Robin 



Samuel Slater, who came 
Shall we call him . . 
She sudden gave . . 
Silently, one by one . 
Soiling another . . 
Steadily, steadily . . 
Still, through our paltry 
Strike — till the last . 
Striking manners are . 
Such, fellow citizens . 
Swans sing before . 
Sweet are the uses . . 



The American doctrine 
The antlered monarch 
The assembly of Virginia 
The brave man is not 
The British are ... 
The Chief Justice . . 
The composition of man 
The covering of anima,ls 
The curfew tolls . . 
The day is done . . 
The debt we owe to books 
The difference between 
The Frenchman first . 
The golden ripple . . 
The inspiring and . . 
The intruder was . . 
The juniper . . . 
The King is come . . 
The last rays of the sun 
The melancholy days . 
The muffled drum's . 
The nation rises up 
The neighing troop 
The Night is mother . 
The one with yawning 
The people arose . . 
"The place at which . 
The progress of mankind 



PAGE 

87 
469 



227 
270 
412 

245 

142 

368 

18 

16 

86 

497 
144 

482 

225 
411 

333 

70 

284 

231 

91 
46 

413 
416 

230 

143 
187 

471 
366 

94 
192 

335 
416 

93 

44 

301 

402 

18 

IIS 

60 

187 
41 



520 



INDEX OF FIRST WORDS 



"The proper study .... 229 

The pubUc oflSces 87 

The question was once put . . 208 

The right honorable .... 90 

The sea licks your feet ... 66 

The sea! the sea!. .... 371 

The similarity of motion . . 464 

The song "Home, Sweet Home," 226 

The stranger who 149 

The sun rose high 411 

The sun that brief 42 

The true order of learning . . 210 

The war, that for a space . . 283 

The winter is over ..... 61 

The 3'^ear's at the spring ... '](i 

Then he climbed 484 

Then none was for a party . . 154 

Theodore Parker said .... 225 

There are three kinds of people 8 

There dwelt a miller .... 463 

There is a chapter 214 

There is a land 300 

There is a tide 146 

There is no flock 246 

There is nothing so easy ... 38 

There is one 216 

"There!" said the Deacon . . 354 

There was once a 486 

There was tumult 334 

They drew him 485 

They lay along 77 

They sat them down .... 39 

This is truth 211 

Thou happy, happy .... 329 

Though the mist . • . . . . 247 

To bind a Roman 352 

To every created thing . . . 300 

To one who said 145 

To tell a falsehood 69 

Tobacco 179 

Trees are trees 483 

Trouble knocked 65 



Truth crushed to earth 
Two went to pray ? 



Viewed with reference 

Washington said . . 
"We are Illinois" . . 
We are two travelers . 
We have complained . 
We make holiday . . 
We say, and we say . 
We, therefore, the . . 
Webster could awe 
What a fascination 
What a piece of work . 
What is it to be . . 
What is the kingdom . 
"What is this that ye do 
What is Time ! . . . 
What would content . 
Whatsoever things . . 
When can their glory . 
When I was a little boy 
When in 1778 . . . 
When we are . . . 
When we have practiced 
Where now is the . 
Where was the man . 
Wherever, O man . . 
Who overcomes by force 
Who's there ? . . . 
Whosoever heareth 
With fingers weary. 
With klingle, klangle . 
Within our beds . . 
Woe unto you, scribes 
Work — work — work 
Would you make men 

Ye, who sometimes 
You shall hear how 
Young Harry was . . 



